The Warriors Road
by Konshiro Crobrasha
Summary: A young man finds himself running from his past. Chasing his future. And finding his place in the world. Losing himself in the endless struggles of life. That was, until he was given the opportunity of a lifetime. It would not only give him peace of mind, but it would also lead him to the most important person in his life.
1. A Unique Opportunity

**DBZ is owned by Akira Toriyama and RWBY is was created by Monty Oum(May he always live on in our hearts). Each of these amazing shows belong to their respective owners and i hold no ownership over either of them whatsoever...Not that i'd know what to do with them in the first place.**

 **Hello once again my glorious audience! Surprise! I am here with another story, and so soon. Now this may come as a shocker to most of you, but i am** _ **not**_ **in fact, making Jaune a Saiyan. I know, i know. But hear me out. I feel that while, yes, getting a huge boost whenever you recover from a near death experience is nice. I also like to** _ **not**_ **take the easy way out. It's pretty obvious that saiyans don't exist in the RWBY universe, at least, as far as i can tell, so i'm going to keep it that way...or i might change that later, it all depends really. However, i will be keeping the Kamehameha and a few other moves from the show. Why? Well, because otherwise, it wouldn't be all that Dragon Ball-y otherwise now would it? So...I have another Poll that's going to be put up. this one states that i only want one, and i do mean** _ **just one**_ **girl that he will hook up with. Disappointed? Then i am sorry but that's the way it's going to go. Still feel like reading this? Then i am glad i have your support. Now, without further ado, on with the new story!**

 **/**

It was a completely normal morning. The sun was shinning, the birds were chirping, and the various wildlife were serene and peaceful as always. Out here, deep in the wilderness, there were surprisingly no Grim at all. Now i'm sure some of you are asking, 'What could have done this?', well...

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A young man, around the age of seventeen.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!"

Keeping a constant watch over the area. Ever vigilant for any and all threats to his camping site-

"NNNNNNNNNNGGHHHH!"

...And now _currently finishing up his training_.

" _And_ done. Phew, what a day. I better start heading back now. Starting to run out of supplies. But i feel like i made some real progress over these couple of months." The young man said, wiping the sweat that he accumulated on his forehead. He had a mop of blonde hair on atop of his head, an azure pair of eyes. He was currently only wearing a pair of interesting pair of pants. They were white in color, but had golden lines going along the sides. They were also very loose on him. Not baggy, just loose. Not to a point where they were sliding off of him, but they left a lot of room for his legs. On his wrists and ankles were cylindrical weights, though only three of them were currently on him, seeing as how he already took one off to wipe off his sweat. Each of the weights had '10 tons' on them. He was moderately toned. A six-pack, refined pectorals and decently developed fore arms. Finally, his sharp facial features, high cheek bones, and pearly white teeth just screamed movie super-star.

He was taking off his weights and packing up before he went stalk still. He silently reached for his weapon. It was a, what he liked to call, 'Moonlight Great sword'. He called it as such because it's blade was of a darker shade of blue. and when it's exposed to moonlight, it starts glowing with power. And it actually did grow more powerful in the moonlight. The way he believed it worked was that it took the fluxwavez the moon limited and concentrated it within the blade to give it an almost energized edge. The guard was wood like. The handle was relatively thin, and it didn't have much to offer as a pommel. He forged it as a commercial weapon. Really only using it when he wanted to spar and not, you know, blow them right through the wall.

"There will not be any need for that, i assure you. I only come here to talk. Nothing else." a voice said form behind him. The young man stopped his movements before turning his head slightly to see who was there. It was a man clad in a green suit that consisted of a green blazer with an emerald vest and dress-shirt. He wore a pair of dark green pants, a pair of black dress shoes, and a light green scarf around his neck. And as he adjusted his glasses, he moved forward with the help of a Cane. The young man tensed for a minute, feeling the large amounts of power radiating off of him.

"I don't know what you want with me, but i don't have any qualms with you, so could you please leave me alone? I'm but a stranger to you, so i don't see the need to distract yourself with me." He said, starting to pack up his things again, but he kept his sword near him at all times, and he would send subtle glances at the man. The older gentleman simply hmm'd in mild amusement.

"Oh, but i do know you, Jaune Arc." The man said, and the newly identified Jaune immediately picked up his weapon and sent energy into it, making it glow brightly. He then got into a battle stance, eyes focused, muscles loose, ready to react at a moments notice, and his power licking his skin like a flame.

"How do you know me?" Jaune asked, never losing his stance. He knew that if he knew who his family was...once was, he was either one of a few people. He was one of the damn bastards that took part in the _**"EVENT"**_ , which didn't really make much sense considering he wasn't Faunus. He was one of the scumbags that stood by and let it happen, but not likely, for the same reasoning as before, but that doesn't really mean anything, mostly because anything that's a possibility can still happen. And then there's the final option: He knew his parents. But the only person he could remember them telling him about was there Headmaster when they were still in school.

"Are you Headmaster Ozpin?" Jaune questioned, still not dropping his stance. The man just sighed, as if reminiscing on something.

"Yes, i am Headmaster Ozpin. I used to know your parents, Jaune. They were good people. They were my friends, and i'm sorry about what happened. But i came here for another reason. And as i said before, i wish not to fight you. So please, just give me a small part of your time and i shall be on my way." Ozpin said, putting his weight on his cane in front of him. Jaune looked calm on the inside, but internally, he was trying to reign in the memories that threatened to resurface. He took a slow and steady breath before slowly lowering his sword. He also recalled his power into his skin. After that he put the sword next to his shield. It was a Tower Shield that was about as tall and wide as he was. Though instead of the usual rectangular shape, it instead was curved at different places, almost making it look like a cross. It had a golden line going down the middle of the length of it. It didn't have too much to offer other than being another commercial weapon he would use alongside His sword that he called 'Douleur, and the shield he called Chagrin. But he was planning on upgrading it the next opportunity he had. He kept his stare even with the Headmasters even gaze before he started walking up to him.

"Alright, what is it you need Headmaster? I don't know much about you, but from what i remember, my parents held you in high regards, so i'll heat you out." Jaune said, crossing his arms as a way of telling the headmaster that he was actually listening. Ozpin nodded again and stopped leaning on his cain.

"Well, just so you are informed, it took quite the bit of resources to find you." Ozpin said, but Jaune just snorted at the comment,

"You mean track me down. I try to make it my business to make sure that not just anybody could find me. Because you and i both know what would happen if i were to just walk around all willy nilly like." Jaune said, and they both knew that _'they'_ would no doubt come knocking down his door.

"If you wish to put it that way, then yes. But i wanted to give you a proposition." The older man offered. Jaune was slightly taken back. Ozpin just met him and he's already offering him something? It seemed...fishy, to say the least.

"And i'm sure you do, but can i ask what the proposition _is_ exactly?" Jaune asked, raising an eyebrow, Ozpin reached into his blazer, causing Jaune to get into a martial arts pose before the older man raised his other hand in mock surrender.

"Do not fret, i am simply pulling out a few papers to offer you." He explained, before slowly pulling his hand from the suite, and as he said, in his hand were a few pages of paperwork. Jaune looked at it cautiously, looking between the paper and the Headmaster who was waiting patiently as he held them out. Jaune finally reached out his hand and carefully took the stack from him. Afterwards, he looked through them and after reading the first page and a half, he looked back to the Headmaster with narrowed eyes and a raised eyebrow.

"You want me to attend Beacon." Jaune stated more than asked. The older man nodded before gesturing to the paperwork in the younger mans hands.

"Yes. I would like you to attend. That paperwork, should you accept, will allow into the academy with no further testing ot background checks." The green clad man said. Jaune just looked at him and shifted his gaze to the papers n his hands before looking at him again.

"Why?" was all he asked. But the Headmaster could tell that Jaune was interested now. And he may or may not have planned out how this would go down. The cool thing about age, was that after a while of dealing with so many people and students, he could pretty much read anyone like a book nowadays.

"Simple: You have skill, experience, wisdom, intelligence, and an uncanny stubbornness that would fit right in with the rest of my students." Ozpin said, giving a small smile. knowing it wouldn't completely convince him in the slightest, he waited for Jaune to respond.

"Even if that is true, that doesn't really give me any incentive to go." Jaune said, skimming through the rest of the documents in his hands. He may have not been around alot of people, but that doesn't mean he can't see if someones playing him for a fool or not. But he couldn't tell with this man. He could see that he genuinely wanted to help him, either out of pity, the feel to do so since he was apparently friends with his parents at one point, out of the goodness of his heart...or more likely trying to gain his good wishes. You'd be surprised how many people have tried to keep him for themselves whenever he tried to protect a village from the Grim.

"I see. So you wish to know what you get out of this." Ozpin stated, and Jaune simply nodded. "For starters, you have the opportunity to attend the biggest Huntsmen academy in all of Remnant." The grey haired man said amusingly, which prompted a deadpan expression from Jaune. "And may i add that it will give you a definite supply of food, water, housing, and education." Ozpin said, but Jaune could here the hidden message. 'It will give you access to a nutritious meal, perfect for your training regimine, give you a safe house to hide, and allow you to research anything you desire.'

He found it tempting. In fact, he found it _very_ tempting. But there was just one thing that he wanted to know. It didn't necessarily decide what he was going to answer with, but it was probably going to decide how he was going to treat this.

"And what's in it for you? You're giving me all of this, and you're not expecting anything in return. What's the catch?" Jaune asked, now much more relaxed around the Headmaster. Who was now smiling. He was confident that he was going to accept... _but_ there is always the off chance that he didn't. And he really didn't want to resort to his plan B. it's always morally challenging when he used blackmail on someone after all.

"All i ask is if i have a mission for you, i want you to at the very least consider it." The older gentleman said. That was already better than anything else Jaune has heard. But he didn't specify what kind of missions they would be.

"What kind of missions?" He asked, and the Headmaster hmm'd in acknowledgment. He reached into his blazer again, and this time, Jaune merely narrowed his eyes a small bit before relaxing again when Ozpin pulled out a Scroll and handed it to him. Jaune looked at it for a small bit before looking at Ozpin once more.

"Before you ask, it's yours. I personally made sure that it was secure. It's practically untraceable. Any data that comes onto that phone, whether it's a message, a call, or researching, it will delete it within a five minute time frame. It can only be called by either me or anyone that accesses my desk. I will give you everything you need for whatever i assign you to. We can go into details later, but if you choose not to accept my offer, then i can render that scroll useless, and we can both pretend that this conversation never happened." The Headmaster said, staring at Jaune evenly. Jaune himself was contemplating whether or not to take the deal. But then he realized how much reliability that he could do whatever the man would assign him.

"Okay, another question. Why do you have such faith as to trust me with these missions?" Jaune asked. Ozpin merely chuckled lightly before pulling out his own personal scroll. He then perused the device before showing what he was looking for. It was a cloaked figure-or fuzzy blur if you didn't look closely-with a glowing outline. And by it's side, was a glowing blue blade that looked vaguely like his own. The thing that caught the eye however, was the mutilated and dissipating corpses of over twenty Higher Ranked Beowolves. You see, a Higher Ranked Beowulf is one of the older variety but are still outranked by their Alpha. And while they could each be an Alpha of their own pack, they grew smart enough to stick with the Higher Ranked Alpha. The Higher Ranked Alphas themselves are quite troublesome. Even a fully trained hunter has trouble with them. And the cloaked figure itself was in the middle of a clash with the Higher Ranked Alpha and you could see a few other Higher Ranked Beowolves going off screen. Jaune stared at the image before looking back up at Ozpin's knowing face.

"It's quite amusing what you can find if you scrounge around in the right places. Like i said, i've spent quite a bit to find you. So, will you accept?" Ozpin asked, once again leaning on his cain after placing his scroll into his blazer. Jaune looked between him and the papers in his hands before letting out a breath.

"That fight was actually pretty hard for me you know." Jaune said. though, Ozpin could also hear the hidden message. 'I don't know if i can do everything you assign me, but i'll try.' Ozpin smiled before he nodded and turned to leave. However, Jaune had one last question for the older gentleman.

"Hey, how did you set all of this up by the way?" Jaune asked, and Ozpin stopped in his stride to turn to him. Ozpin, with his almost ever present knowling smile chuckled a small bit before responding.

"I will admit, i used up most if not all of the favours for the paperwork, and i had to pull one or two strings for the scroll." He said, before taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "I did all of this because...well, i felt like i owed your parents as much." Ozpin explained, putting his glasses back on. Jaune closed his eyes to hold back the memories that tried to make their way to the front of his mind again. Ozpin said one more thing to the young man as he was walking away.

"I look forward to having you for the next three years Mr. Arc."

 **/**

 **Well, there you go ladies, gentlemen and those who have unspecified genders, this is the first chapter of the story that you guys voted for. I'm doing this a bit differently i know, but that's what i was trying to go for: Different, but still interesting. And i'm sure that you guys caught on that something happened to Jaune in his past. But you'll have to wait a small bit before i reveal what exactly happened. Anyway, i hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I now have to go, my people need me. So until the next time we meet, Toodles~!**


	2. Of Business and Robbers

**Woop Woop! Another chapter the day after i just posted?** _ **What?**_ **Yeah! I'm on such natural high right now, the ever present depression i deal with every day doesn't even bother me right now. So, before i have to deal with it again, let's get right into the action. WOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **/**

Jaune was walking towards the bustling city known as Vale. He had a cloak on, hood up and tied around his body, only allowing glimpses of the outfit he had on. While only making a small clanking sound whenever he took a step, the metallic boots were white in color, just like the rest of his armor. The armor on his legs and arms were not very noteworthy, but the chest, gauntlets and helmet were what drew the eye. His head was covered by a helmet of sorts. The vizor going across the width of it, sticking out in the middle where the nose would be, it also had golden lines along it's edges. Not only that, but the slit that allowed him to see seemed to glow a small bit. The Gauntlets were clawed. Each if the talon like fingers were sharp enough to cut through steel. He made sure of it. And on the back of each of the hands were yellow lightning Dust crystals, with glowing circuitry that ran alongside his arms and disappeared into the body armor. The Central piece of the armor was interesting. It had a single White crystal right in the middle of the chest that had six different lines stemming from it. the first three were on the upper left, direct lef, and below left of the central crystal. One was Acceleration Dust, the next was Gravity Dust, and Wind Dust. Parallel to them were the three other types of dust: Lightning, Fire, and Water Dust. Below all of this however, was his usual outfit. It It consisted of a black, skin tight short-sleeve shirt under a white sleeveless over-shirt that matched the style of his pants, Only loosely clinging to his torso that had a rather large 'V' that went down jus below his chest. Hidden beneath the Gauntlets were two hands that were covered with a pair of black leather gloves.

As he made his way towards the city, he thought about what happened the day before and what Ozpin offered him: A base of operations, a comfortable place to sleep, and access to a huge database. None of those things were easy to come by with the way he's been living for the past few years. No matter how much time it's been, or how many times he's slept on the floor of the woods, alleyway, or even the steel floor of that laboratory...look, he just doesn't like sleeping on the floor okay? But the point is, He had one of the best opportunities he's ever had. And if he played his cards right, he might be able to get an advantage over those that made him the way he was now. He didn't know what organization they belonged to, but he knew that they were trying to lay low. And what little he saw of them, most of them were Faunus. And There was one Faunus that he knew was looking over the operation. He would never forget the scorpion bastard that personally looked over him. He was a maniac. Kept talking about how he would please his master. The scientists were, what he guessed, just different Faunus that he picked out to do the experiments. The man was there every single waking moment. He wondered if he ever slept. But probably not, considering how bat shit crazy the bastard was. He wasn't the only one that suffered though, he knew there were others. When he counted, he saw about a hundred different people, Faunus and Human. Ranging from children, adults, the elderly and even infants. But as far as he knew...he's the only survivor. The only reason he escaped was because the scorpion was sent out on a mission for some reason. He took the chance and used his new powers to blast his way out of the facility. He also tried to let what little survivors were left free, but the place was guarded by some state-of-the-art mercenaries. In order to survive, he had to...kill them. But while he was trying to get away, he saw that the other victims were taken down one by one. He blacked out after that. When he woke up, he was covered in his blood that wasn't his. Did that haunt his dreams whenever he decided to try and sleep? Oh definitely. But he tries not to think about it too much. He can't. Mostly whenever he thinks about his time there or even man, he gets so livid. But enough about that, He was already near the wall protecting the city. He could fly or jump over it, but that would no doubt raise a few flags. So he went for a more subtle approach.

"Sir, would you please present your license and registration-" The gate guard tried to ask him, but Jaune abruptly interrupted him by raising his hands, the back of his armored hands facing outwards while he closed his eyes.

 **"Solar Flare!"** Jaune yelled out, and there was a flash of light that blinded not only the guard in front of him, but the rest of the guards behind the first one. They all raised their arms to cover their eyes and tried to rub whatever blinded them out. Jaune just chuckled a small bit before he started walking past the now fumbling guards. He would feel bad for them, but he had business to tend to. He had a city to scope out. Because if he was going to stay in Beacon, he's going to have to get familiar with the surrounding areas. Starting with Vale. It was a quaint little city. Faunus and Humans in the same place. Now he's not racist or anything. His experiences didn't do that to him. If anything, he didn't want his past to influence his actions. So he decided that he would only judge someone by their actions. And the people around him were...staring at him. He expected that. I mean, here's a weird, 8'11'' man, dressed in a cloak, walking through a crowd. It was starting to get dark, so he looked a little more than suspicious. He still didn't care what they thought, but he did care about if the wrong person saw him and told someone that he _really_ did not want to know he was there. So he turned a corner when he made sure no one was around. He then jumped up onto the roof and looked around.

"Looks like i have a lot of ground to cover. Well, i don't have to do it all tonight, but i think i'll just do what i can and get some rest for tomorrow." Jaune said, and then started jumping from roof to roof.

 **(Time Skip Brought To You By A Chibi Armored Jaune Jumping Across The Rooftops)**

"Alright, i think that's enough for today." Jaune said, as he started walking in the direction of Beacon. The paperwork clearly stated that he was to report to Ozpin at least a week before the school year started. And that's another thing that kind of irked him. Classes. He already knew a lot about history. He knew how to survive in the wilderness, how to kill a Grim, and even how to take down a person. Notice how he said _take down_ and not _kill._ He tries to use every option other than that if he can. And don't even get him started on fighting. You name it, he can do it. Sword-and-shield? Duh. Hand-to-hand? Perfected. Dust? He _literally_ wears it on his person. Planning? He's gotten out of(and broken into) some of the most secure places on Remnant without a single trace that he was there in the first place. He even mastered the power that he was given during...the four years he would prefer to forget. But if he only had to sit through a few classes for a couple of hours to get all the benefits that he was promised, then so be it. That doesn't mean he was going to like it though. But as he was about to jump onto the next building, he heard a crashing noise from below him.

"What in the world?" Jaune questioned, looking over the edge and saw that a man was thrown out the window of a Dust shop. He raised a concealed eyebrow and waited to see what would happen next. It seemed like a regular brawl, nothing too out of the ordinary from what he's seen, but what interested him was how the man was dressed, _and_ the sword at his side. It was obviously just something to arm himself with, but it was just _so_ crappily crafted! He wouldn't be able to craft all of his armor and weapons if he didn't know a forge like the blueprints of his Douleur. He didn't have to wait long until he saw a girl with a gothic lolita outfit and a red hooded cape. He didn't know why, but she really caught his eye. Either it was the captivating pair of beautiful silver eyes, or the _absolutely stunning_ weapon on her waist. It may have only looked like a rectangular device to anyone else, he could see that it was actually a highly sophisticated weapon of sorts. He couldn't tell what kind of weapon it was until he saw it transformed. He wasn't disappointed when the young woman took the device behind her and unfolded it into a giant scythe and slammed it into the asphalt, sending rubble everywhere. He almost gushed at how much care and work was put into the weapon. He shook his head and refocused on the battle happening below him.

"Little Red, Little Red. I'm going to have to ask you to walk away, and forget this ever happened. Because i don't wan't my track record to have 'Child Murderer' staining it." the fancily dressed man threatened, raising his cain gun, Melodic Cudgel. The red and black clad girl simply raised her weapon and readied herself. The man himself was wearing a white overcoat with some black slacks and a pair of dress shoes. His hands were covered by a pair of some fancy looking gloves. While Jaune could easily tell the guy was bad news, he would admit, the man had a very good fashion sense.

"I can't do that. You have to be stopped, otherwise you'll go in to do other horrible things." The girl said, narrowing her eyes at the Bowler hat wearing criminal. Jaune knew of a Roman Torchwick. But he had never met the man in person. He used to have to steal information he need from one of his many warehouses. The man was a ruthless criminal who would threaten first, talk second, and kill if talking didn't work out. But now that he saw what Roman's means of 'talking' was, he understood why not a lot of people wanted to get in his way. The girl didn't seem to be too scared though. That was just another thing he admired her for. She knew how to make an excellent weapon, she was obviously a strong willed woman, and she was skilled if the way she was moving around that scythe was anything to go by. Roman just let out an annoyed sigh before he gestured to the other men that came out of the store shortly after him.

"Alight. Kill her." He said coldly. The grunts seemed to be surprised by the order. One of them even looked to him nervously.

"U-uh, boss? Are you sure about this? She doesn't even look like she's- ***Splat!*** "

The grunt was interrupted by a bullet to the head by Roman and his Melodic Cudgel. Everyone, excluding Jaune and Roman were taken back by the action. Ruby went wide eyed and her jaw dropped. She completely dropped her weapon and started backing away. The rest of the grunts looked on in horror. Roman just rolled his eyes and gestured to the young woman again.

"I. Said. Kill. Her. Or do you want to end up a like red and dead over there?" He asked, and the underlings fearfully looked from Roman to the girl and nodded. She was still looking at the dead man on the floor. She was shaking now, not even noticing the group of men approaching her, or even the one that whispered that he was sorry.

"That's enough." Jaune stated in a metallic tone as he descended upon the group. He crashed into the street and sent more of the asphalt flying. In a kneeling position, You could clearly see the energy coming off of him. Now what they could also tell was that he was absolutely _livid_. He slowly stood up and threw the cloak off of himself to reveal his armored body and a golden cape flowed behind him. "Take one more step towards her and i-" He stopped himself and looked to the small girl that fell on her behind when he arrived. She seemed so...awestruck. He guessed she saw him as one of those 'Knights in shining armor'. "...take one more step towards her, and i'll be forced to take action." He finally said, bringing the sides of his fists together, started glowing, and separated them to reveal a blade-like weapon made out of lightning. He then held it in both of his hands. "But if you really want to, i'm not going to stop you." He said, waiting for the grunts in front of him to move. They for their part looked between him, themselves, and back to Roman who was _not_ looking too happy at his arrival. Jaune figured he knew who he was.

 _ **"You."**_ Roman spat out, a nasty scowl on his face. Jaune only smirked at him. So his assumption was right. He may or may not have also destroyed the warehouses he robbed information from. But his face? Completely worth it. Then the grunts did something he didn't expect them to do: They ran away.

"Run! We weren't hired for this! I just hope that guy can take care of Roman!" One of the grunts exclaimed as they sprinted down the street and tuned into an alleyway. Roman turned his head to them and let out a snarl.

"Tch. Whatever, they were useless anyways. So, what do i owe the pleasure of the one prick that has interrupted my operation time and again?" Roman said with as much venom and sarcasm he could muster. Jaune looked at him for a moment before he grunted. Roman merely spat to the side and raised his cain again. "No words then huh? Well, i wonder what you'll say when i kill the girl." Roman said before turning his aim to the girl on the floor. Jaune cursed himself before dissipating the lightning sword and used some Acceleration Dust to rush himself in front of her right before the projectile exploded on his crossed arms. The girl was broken out of her shock when the projectile exploded. She then realised that the man that saved her could be possibly dead. She already saw another mans death, she wasn't too affected...okay that was a lie, _she witnessed a man's head explode!_ But he was going to kill her if he didn't die. And her brain was making her believe that it was necessary. That it was either him or her. But now...that man sacrificed himself to protect her. That was...her brain was trying hard to process what happened. She was just so stressed. All of this was happening so soon and so fast. This was so overwhelming that she felt like she was going to-

 ***Thud***

She passed out. And not a second afterward did Jaune swipe his arm and clear the smoke, not a scratch on him. Jaune was going to engage in battle, but he noticed that Roman was gone. He did a quick search of the area and found that Roman was already in a Bullhead and laughing at him.

"As much as i would _love_ to take you out you conniving little shit! I have business elsewhere! But the next time we meet, i _will_ kill you." Roman threatened as the Bullhead started flying away. Jaune was about to chase after him, but then he heard a groan coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw that Ruby was on the floor and unconscious. He looked between her and the rapidly receding Bullhead and sighed. He couldn't just leave her there, some creep could be roaming around.

"Alright, i guess i could bring you somewhere. But...where?" Jaune asked himself as he picked her up bridal style. But before he could really think of anywhere to go, he heard someone else clear their throat. When he turned to look at the voice, he noticed it was a tall, green eyed woman with a pair of glasses. She was wearing a pencil skirt with a button up dress shirt. He would be aroused or intimidated by her, but he just couldn't get over the fact that she was holding a...a...a riding crop?! he could barely keep his laughter in check. Who in their right mind would use a riding crop in public!? If he didn't know that this was Ozpin's right hand woman, and the fact that he's holding the girl in his arms, that he's not rolling on the ground laughing. She walked up to him and...Huh, she doesn't look all that tall now that she was right in front of her.

"Am I correct that you are Jaune Arc?" She asked, and he nodded, because if he tried saying anything else, he would start laughing his ass off. She simply nodded and gestured him to follow her. He nodded again and started walking with her. "Alright then, let's get you two to the Headmasters office for a full report." She continued, lightly slapping the crop on her hand, and Jaune 'grunted' in response. In reality, he just snorted, but the helmet just made it sound like a grunt.

He then looked down at the sleeping figure in his arms and lost the urge to laugh all together. She looked so...peaceful. He knew that she saw a brutal murder, but with enough luck, and enough guiding, he could convince her that it was all just a hallucination and that he knocked her out to keep her from harm. And that the noises she heard? From the battle he had. He didn't know why, but he wanted to...protect her. He knew that on some level that sounded creepy, but...he was just being honest.

He didn't know or even know why, but he...he felt like she was going to be important to him in the future. And he realized didn't have any problems with that.

 **/**

 **Just so you guys aren't confused or concerned. Ruby won. She won by so much. _Nine votes._ Now that doesn't sound like much, but when you consider the fact that second place has only _three_ , that's quite the turnout. Now moving on from this, if any of you want to ask me about anything, either leave a review i can respond to, or PM me. I now say that you will see me in the next chapter of To Create Ones Path. I'm very sleepy. Toodles~!**


	3. Some Awkward Introductions

**Disclaimer: This is a fanmade story. Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super were created and are owned by Akira Toriyama. RWBY was created by Monty Oum-may he always live in in our hearts-and is owned by RoosterTeeth. I in no way own either of these series. If i did though, i feel that i might be a bit bias on my character focus. So it's good that i don't.**

 **Hey there fellas, as promised, i am here with another chapter of The Warriors Road! How have you guys been? I have been just grand. You know, I never thought that i would be able to get this far in my writing if i'm going to be honest. But apparently, you guys proved me wrong. I know i've already said this before, but i just want to thank you guys for your support. It means so much to me. But enough about me, Let's not dawdle on this anymore and get right into this!**

 **/**

It had been a short walk before the three were on a Bullhead headed toward Beacon. Jaune had layed the young woman-that he now knew as Ruby Rose-on the next few seats adjacent to him. He hadn't said a word the entire time. Goodwitch was on her Scroll overlooking some documents and messaging the Headmaster he presumed. He looked over the city as he flew over the mass of buildings. It was admittedly beautiful. But he noted that it was also emitting a sort of...aura. It was faint, but he could see it. There were a plethora of power streams that all stemmed from...Beacon.

"How interesting." Jaune said to himself as he looked out the window. The Professor looked up from her device and raised one of her eyebrows. He hadn't taken off any of his armor, not even his helmet. She figured that he wore it so often that he wouldn't even notice it until someone pointed it out to him. She was going to question him on what he was referring to until she heard the third occupant of the room starting to stir. Jaune had briskly looked from the city to Ruby and stood up. Glynda stood up and walked over to the two, looking down at the younger girl. Ruby was grunting and groaning as she started to come to.

"Ugh, what happened? Where am I?'" The silver eyed reaper questioned. Jaune looked to the side where the Professor was mimicking his actions by looking at him before turning back to Ruby, who was currently sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Jaune was really struggling to keep himself from glomping the girl. He noticed that Ruby had a tendency to do that to him in the short time he had known her. She would make these adorable noises in her sleep, and he had to focus on something other than her to restrain himself. He shook his head a small bit before kneeling down to look into her eyes.

"Hello Ruby, you are currently on a Bullhead to Beacon. Do you remember anything prior to blacking out?" Jaune asked, looking into her unfocused eyes. She seemed to still be waking up. He looked back to the headmistress who was finishing up with something on her Scroll. "Could you please find some water for her? She may need it. And may i also request some sort of snack that she can have? She is clearly disorientated, We need to make her feel as comfortable as possible. Otherwise she may have a freak attack, or faint again." Jaune requested. Goodwitch looked at him for a second before nodding and walking off to the front of the airship. He turned back to Ruby who was now looking out into space. He decided to try and get her attention.

"Hello, Ruby?" Jaune called, lightly waving his hand in front of her. She snapped out of her small trance and looked to him. He waited for a response as she stared at him blankly. He was patient. He had to be. Cases like this were delicate. If he did something wrong, things could go south very quickly. So he waited as she looked at him before realization dawned on her. Her eyes widened and she pointed her finger at him.

"Y-your that...that guy. That guy who..." Ruby tried to recall, but she gripped her head as trying to remember what happened was giving her a headache. She was trying to remember what happened, but she was coming up with blanks. All she could remember was that this one guy with mascara and a group of grunts were trying to rob her, and that this armored knight had dropped in and...saved her? The details were fuzzy to her at best. But an image that was clear as day was the picture of the armored knight holding a weapon of pure light standing against the villain across from him. She looked back to Jaune after closing her eyes to try and weather the headache that rocked her. He was gently waving an armored hand in front of her, and she realized that he was calling her name.

"Ruby. Ruby? Are you alright?" Jaune asked in a soft tone. It was still a bit gruff, but it was the best he could manage. His vocal cords were slightly more developed than the average teen. That could contribute to his experiences, but he never really thought about it. Seeing as how he really didn't care, but he needed to be as careful as possible with this. He can't use his normal voice with how rough it sounds. At least, that's how he always thought it sounded like. He could make it softer. almost melodic even. That was only when he sang to to himself though. And he didn't really feel like doing that right now, So he did the next bast thing. It seemed to be enough as the lass refocused on him and nodded. He gave a concealed smile under his helmet.

"That's good. Now, if you can, please tell me what you remember. If you don't want to, you can choose not to." Jaune said. She nodded again. His voice seemed oddly soothing to her. She brushed those thoughts aside and tried to remember what happened before she blacked out.

"Let's see...there was this weird guy. Bowler hat...orange hair, cain, white coat...and then there was you...and...that's all i can really remember." Ruby recounted. Jaune nodded to her again. That...was probably for the best. She didn't remember the murder of that man. Or she did, and her brain just locked it away so that she can't recall it. Now, for a bit of a vague recap of what happened.

"Okay. The man with the bowler hat? That was Roman Torchwick. He's a renowned criminal in the underworld. You were able to fend him off until i arrived. Then, we were able to send him scurrying. However, due to stress, you blacked out. Now we're on a Bullhead to Beacon." Jaune explained. Telling the truth but also lying was a handy skill he learned. True, she did face the criminal. No, she wasn't given the chance to fight. Yeah, he did get there in the nick of time to face them. No, Roman did not run away with his tail between his legs. But he wanted to make the situation seem as tame as possible. Ruby simply nodded in acceptance. And as he was going to ask her if she had anywhere to stay, she suddenly asked him something he wasn't expecting.

"What's your name?" Ruby asked. Jaune blinked, not really knowing where that came from. But he figured that it wouldn't hurt to tell her. A traumatized person he may be, but he is by no means rude. Besides, it was only polite that he tell her his name since he knew hers.

"My name is Jaune. Jaune Arc." He answered. getting a small smile from her. It made his heart flutter. Why? He had...a hint as to why. But he wouldn't go into it right now. He wanted to see if she was in this town with anyone else. A girl like her couldn't be here by herself...or she could. How would he know? Which is why he was going to ask.

"Are you here with anyone else? Do you have any way to contact them?" Jaune asked. She seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, possibly due to his appearance. He would figure that it was a bit much having a tall man in a suit of armor to be a bit intimidating. but he needed her to stay awake. The more he knew about her the more he would be able to help her. But in order to make that happen, he'd have to try and make her feel more comfortable. That would mean...

"Could you take off the helmet? Please? It would be nice to know the face of the guy who um,,,saved...me?" Ruby tried to ask, but she noticed that the room seemed to drop in temperature. She looked to Jaune who was currently stock still. Did he want to take off the helmet? Hell no! sure they were in a Bullhead. Yes, it was technically safe to take it off. But what if someone was spying on him right now!? If **_they_** found out that the 'Justice Blanche' and him were one and the same person, that would make his life _hell._ He'd have to make a few calls to call in a few favors. From there he's going to have to fake his death- _again!_ But that's something that he's **_not_** going to go into right now...what? He's not paranoid. You're paranoid! Okay, look. Taking off the helmet, not a good idea. However, against his better judgement, he decided that **_for some reason_** , this was more important than appeasing his paranoia-he means **_rightfully appointed_** cautiousness. So he brought up his hands up to take the head piece off.

Now Ruby noticed that the air went from a bit cold to down right tense. She shrugged it off as being nothing. What interested her more was what the Knight looked like under that helmet. It actually reminded her of her stories where the Hero would rescue the princess-though she would note that she was one kick-butt princess-and reveal himself to her when the villain had been defeated. From there, there would be a Heroes welcome waiting for the knight. And finally, the Hero would...

Before her thought process could go too...far, Jaune had started to lift the helmet off his head. Now, normally, he wouldn't even consider doing this for someone he just met not even two hours ago. Did this in any way relate to that freakishly strong connection he felt for her that he can't physically deny?

.

..

...

Maybe.

But that's not the point. He was trying to figure out if this connection was something good, or bad. He's felt a connection between quite a few people. Some of them were good benefactors for him, others were now six feet under. This particular case however, was new to him. He felt so naturally connected to her that he kind of...kind of wanted to protect her. To be someone she can look up to. To be the man she can count on. To be the man that she would see as her light.

'

''

'''

He's saying that he feels self conscious. He couldn't for the life of him know why. It was frustrating! What if his face was to soft? What if his eyes were too blue? What if she didn't like his hair? What about that one scar that went from his right eye to the bottom of his jaw! He's freaking out for no reason!

"There, is that better?" Jaune questioned, finally taking the helmet off despite his distraught mindset. He looked into her silver eyes, waiting for a response. The two were looking into eachothers eyes. Each waiting for the others response...

 _'D-did it just get hot in here?'_ Ruby thought, looking at the handsome boy in front of her. He was...stunning. His high cheek bones, perfect golden hair, sapphire blue eyes, six o'clock shadow, and that scar? tingle inducing...wait. What was she thinking about? Oh, right. She was...was...wow you could really get lost in those eyes...

"Ruby? Ruby, i need you to focus okay? Now can you tell me if you are living with anyone in Vale?" Jaune asked again, seeing her start to doze off again, he snapped his fingers, snapping her out of her trance. She looked to him, seemingly not heard what he asked. So he asked again.

"Hey, do are you here with anyone? Can you contact them?" Jaune tried again, this time getting her to think about it for a quick second before raising a finger in realization.

"Oh, there is my sister. I don't know where she went, but i can call her on my Scroll." Ruby answered, fishing into one of the pockets in her combat skirt. Jaune nodded before hearing the sound of clacking heels behind him. He stood up and turned to see that Glynda had returned with a tray. It had a sandwich and a glass of orange juice. He walked up to her and noticed that she raised one of her eyebrows at him, no doubtedly trying to ask why or when he took off the helmet. He ignored the unasked question and took the tray from the woman.

"Thank you Ms. Goodwitch, it is appreciated. Though, might i ask why it took as long as it did?" Jaune asked, seeing that it really shouldn't have took that long to get some orange juice and a snack. Goodwitch looked up to his face and tried to silently ask him about the helmet again. And once again, he promptly ignored it. Seeing that he wasn't going to answer her question, she sighed and decided to answer his question.

"Well, i saw that there weren't any suitable snacks that would be suffice for the situation, so i opted to make a sandwich myself. And since there was nothing but unhealthy soft drinks, i thought that i would make some juice from some oranges i found laying around." She said, almost embarrassed to admit it. Jaune blinked. Clearly surprised at her. That...that was significantly more nice than what he was told she would be. Was he going to question it? Later. But right now, he needed to make sure that Ruby got some food into her system.

"Regardless, thank you Headmistress." Jaune said, nodding to her. He then turned back to Ruby and saw her pocketing her Scroll. He showed her the tray of nourishments and gave her a smile he hoped wasn't creepy.

' _oh, who am I kidding. I bet i've been nothing but creepy...hold on. Since when have I ever cared about how anyone sees me as? I'm usually trying to make sure no one even knows who I am!'_ Jaune thought, making note to how he has been acting drastically different than what he would normally. Did he have a problem with that? here's another question, is it dangerous to just show your face to someone you just met even though you're on the run from a criminal organization that will stop at nothing to get you back?...Yes, the answer is yes. Ruby though...he's already established that she's special to him in some way. And he is currently deciding what kind of special she is to him. Though, he might already have an idea as to which one she is. In any case! He's just got to get through this before he can dwel on this any more than he already has.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink?" Jaune asked, not an inkling of the inner turmoil he was having rising to the surface. He was talented like that. Ruby...Well, Ruby was...how do you say...rebooting her brain.

 _'He's so...handsome.'_ Ruby thought, seeing that his smile was melting her heart in such a way that reminded her of when she saw Zwei for the first time. It was kind, warm, and something that she would grow to see more of. But right now? She had experienced _one_ little thing that differentiated Zwei and Jaune. He was _much_ better looking. For some reason, she found herself daydreaming about him. Or more specifically, of him as the Hero of her story books. going on an epic quest, gaining a band of other warriors, walking in the shadows of death, danger, fear and destiny. She saw herself alongside him, fighting back-to-back, their chemistry would be unrivaled. In the end, they would defeat the ultimate evil, and then he would take her into his arms, bring his face closer, and closer. Then he would whisper her name.

 _Ruby...Ruby...Ru_ by...Ruby?...Ruby!" Jaune called to her, breaking...whatever the hell she was going with that, and making her look at his concerned face. It was lucky that she was still in a small daze, otherwise, she would be blushing up a storm for how far her imagination was taking her. But she refocused on whatever this handsome man was trying to ask her.

"Hm? What...what were you saying Jaune?" Ruby asked, her eyes half lidded. She was really out of it. After the apparent robbery she assisted in stopping, waking up to an armored giant, then finding out that the giant was this super...what was that word Yang would sometimes use?...Hot! that was it, hot. This super hot guy was taking care of her. And now that the haze was clearing from her head, she could think a bit more clearly...oh dear Oum.

 _'What in the heck was I even thinking!'_ Ruby thought, looking away from Jaune and putting her hands to her face in hopes of hiding the insane blush that washed over her. _'I can't believe I even thought of that. But...'_ Ruby continued, sneaking a look at the now extremely concerned Jaune. She then just as quickly hid her face again. _'He is pretty handsome though.'_ Ruby thought, a warm feeling starting to grow. Now she is no child, despite anyone's denial of this, she was well aware of certain things that come with a boy and a girl. Do be noted though, she has paid little to no attention to any of the sex ed she was given at Signal. While she knows some of these things, she usually doesn't make them a priority. Now being a Huntress? She is all about that. But this...she herself doesn't know what it was about him that raised these feeling out of her. She'll probably ask Yang the next time she sees her.

"Ruby. Are you alright? Is there anything wrong?" Jaune asked, putting the tray to the side and looked intently at her, trying to see if there was anything wrong with her. She looked back to him a few moments later, now more focussed and a small tinge of red on her cheeks. He raised his scarred eyebrow at that.

 _'Was she blushing?'_ Jaune thought, but before he could dwell on that any further, Ruby cleared her throat, finally fit to start talking normally.

"W-well, I'm feeling a little better. What were you asking?" Ruby asked, looking st the knight she noticed that he lowered his head and heard him chuckle. It was light, a little rough, but it suited him. The knight was just humored at the girl because she seemed so unfocussed and unhinged before that if he didn't know any better, he would have said that she was as high as a kite...heh. That thought in itself was enough to gain a chuckle from him. When was the last time he's seen that stoner? Six, seven months ago? Ah that didn't matter right now, what did, was that she was already snaking on the sandwich he tried to offer her earlier.

"Heh, nothing really. I was just going to tell you that we are going to have to give our own reports on how the events transpired." Jaune said, going to sit down next to her. She took a sip from her orange juice before nodding.

"Oh, okay. Who are we reporting too?" Ruby asked, thinking that they were going to the Vale Police station. But why were they on a Bullhead for that? That didn't make sense.

"The Headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin." Jaune said, getting a nod from her.

.

..

...

Oh...

 ** _"_** ** _WHAT!?_** " Ruby screamed into Jaune's ear. He recoiled a small bit, relly only wincing. He looked to her shocked face with a confused look before realizing that Beacon was one of the prestigious Huntsman schools on Remnant and that the Headmaster was one of the most respected people on the planet. He respected the man...- _ish._ Yeah, he doesn't really feel a _respect_ for the older gentleman than he does have...he doesn't want to call it trust...mutual _acceptance_ , that's it. He accepts the Headmaster as a benefactor, but he has yet to build any real respect for him. So he would suppose the response from her was justified.

"Yeah, we're reporting to the Headmaster. Even i'm not sure why, but if i were to guess, it's because i was involved." Jaune said, looking at her with a level expression. She was still shocked, but was now a bit more confused than anything.

"Because you were involved? I don't...i don't get it." Ruby asked, clearly not understanding why having him involved in something would grant the headmasters attention.

"Well, I supposes it's because I'm going to attend Beacon this year. Though, I don't understand why he would require you...not that you aren't worth the time, it's just for such a menial event, there shouldn't be need for him to get involved." Jaune said, rubbing his chin in a deep thought. He honestly couldn't understand why the Headmaster would want to involve himself in something so menial. The threat was...gone. You know, that might be why he was calling them up there.

"Oh, okay then...wait. You're going to Beacon? How cool!...how old are you?" Ruby asked. he blinked at her, not really knowing where that question came from. How old was he? last time he checked...seventeen? it's been a while since he even thought about his birthday. but he knows that it was somewhere around the beginning of the year. and since their nearing the end of the year, he's going to guess that it passes already.

"I am seventeen. And you?" Jaune responded. gesturing for her to respond. She looked a bit shocked though.

"I'm fifteen. But, you're only...seventeen?" Ruby asked. he quirked an eyebrow at that. _Only_ seventeen? He's pretty sure that he would look around his age. But then again, how the hell would he know? If it wasn't already apparent, he doesn't really hang around many people for long periods of time.

"Umm, yes. Do I not look like it?" Jaune asked, really curious as to what age she thought he was. Did he look younger? Older? He's seen some twenty-something year olds who look even younger than him, so it wouldn't surprise him if she thought he was older. Aura is an amazing thing isn't it?

"Oh no, it's just, I thought you were twenty or...something. You know, a third or fourth year at Beacon." Ruby said, clearly feeling a bit awkward...or so he thought. in reality, she was actually happy that he was around her age, if only two years her senior.

Okay, so here's a little lesson in the world of Remnant. It's not necessarily illegal to date someone who's under the age of eighteen when you're, say, twenty or in Jaune's case, going to be eighteen. However, it is kind of frowned upon and not encouraged. Moreover, if the younger of the two's parents even suspect that the older one is mistreating them, they can press charges on the account of child endangerment. This can be avoided or completely nullified if, prior to the charges, the pair and _both sets of parents_ sign a legal waver that must be renewed annually. In the event that one of the parents does not wish to sign, the waver will be null and void. If one of the two is an orphan, they must bring proof of this by bringing the death certificates of the parents that must then be verified, otherwise they will be tried for fraud. From there the parents have the authority to place a restraining order against the offender. You may only request this waver if the younger of the two is between the ages of fifteen and seventeen.

'

''

'''

So pretty much, you have to go through a lot of hoops to _safely_ be together with a minor, you have to go through a lot of hoops. Did either of these two think about this? no. Did they feel like they wanted to be with each other? No...maybe...they may need to do some research on this legal waver. But right now they seem to already be at there destination! Let's focus on that.

"Children, if you would follow me." Goodwitch called, waiting for them to catch up...oh, and those two? Adorable. It actually reminded her of when Ruby's parents once attended this school with her. Oh, those were some of the best days of her life...but now she's stuck doing all the financials for the school. deciding what money goes where, how something is arranged, and even having to do things herself sometimes! And _don't even_ get her started on the coffee budget. What does one even _do_ with nearly _forty percent_ of the budget solely for coffee. She doesn't even drink the caffeinated heart hazard. She would take tea over it any day. But enough about that, she needed to lead them to the Headmasters office...the damn caffeine junkie.

/

"Ah, hello there Goodwitch, i trust you brought the children along with you?" Ozpin asked, turning his attention from his computer to his Deputy Headmistress. She nodded and walked out of the elevator, followed by the tall figure of Jaune with his helmet back on and the shorter figure of Ruby. The Headmaster smiled before closing his computer with a wave of his hand.

"Welcome Jaune, I trust you caught the message i sent you?" The headmaster asked, getting a nod in return. He then shifted his attention to the daughter of the...the late Summer Rose. It was a shame. She was a friend of his. He missed her dearly. He could only imagine what the rest of the family had gone through. Hell, they were still grieving for their loss. But enough of that now. He had called her into his office because of a favor Summer had asked him before she passed away.

"Ms. Rose, how would you like to attend my school?"

.

..

...

"What?" Ruby asked, thinking that she didn't hear him right. Did he...did he just ask if she wanted to attend Beacon?

"I asked if you would like to attend Beacon this year?" Ozpin repeated. He smirked as he saw the look of realization slowly dawn on her. He raised his mug to his lips and took a sip before giving her an amused look. "Or do you not wish to go to the most prestigious Hunters school in the world?" Ozpin questioned. It was at that point that Ruby had fully realized what the Headmaster was offering, and promptly squealed.

"Of course I want to attend Beacon! Oh, I can't wait! These next two years are going to be _so_ boring though! Oh, i can hardly wait!" Ruby gushed. She was so excited! She was going to go to her dream school! Two years from now she's going to go here and then she'll be apart of the best team there over was, and then she'll go through the four years, become a Huntress, fight alongside Jaune, and then-

"Who said anything about waiting Ms. Rose?" The Headmaster inquired. Ruby immediately stopped in her tracks and turned her head to him. Jaune was amused by the spectacle. So Ozpin wanted to bring Ruby into his school two years early? That was...completely okay with him. Though it did seem that The headmaster was just giving free rides left and right here. And from the look on Glynda's face told him that this was not the first time Ozpin has done this either. Ruby tilted her head in confusion, trying to make sense of what the Headmaster was getting at.

"Eh?" Ruby managed to get out. Ozpin gave out a small chuckle before deciding to answer her.

"You're going to be attending Beacon...this year."

.

..

...

Oh, she fainted again.

 **/**

 **Another chapter done. Yay. Now i must remind you guys that there is a poll set up. But enough about that, I want you guys to know that I am absolutely thrilled to write this stuff, so I hope you guys enjoy my content. As always, I am open for discussion. Now I must go, I have duties to attend to! Toodles~!**


	4. Formalities

**Disclaimer: RWBY was created by Monty Oum-May he forever live within our hearts-and is owned by RoosterTeeth.**

 **Hey there once again my adoring audience, the crippling silence is always welcomed whenever I try to write these chapters. Helps me think. Listen to those voices in my head, you know, the normal stuff. Now I am here with a new chapter of A Warriors Road. Here we'll be going a bit forward in time. Only to the arrival of the new students mind you, so nothing too major will be skipped. So with not much else on my mind right now, les' GO!**

* * *

After Ruby had awakened again, she had been told by Ozpin that Jaune had excused himself, saying that he had some other business to attend to. She had been...hurt. by what exactly, she didn't know. But then she was reaffirmed that she was indeed going to Beacon. And since she was never one to look a gift horse ij the mouth, she gladly accepted. Shortly afterward, her sister Yang came by and picked up. She had looked like she had better days, but was relatively okay. She didn't bother asking and instead told her all about the news. She said how she had fought Roman Torchwick, met Jaune, and was accepted into Beacon two years early. Yang seemed so ecstatic at first, but then processed the information that Ruby had fought alongside another person that was also going to Beacon. More notably, a _boy_ going to Beacon. Now she will admit that she can be over protective sometimes, and right now?...she was totally being over protective, but still! there is still the possibility that this was indeed another creep that wanted to steel her baby sister away. She would **_Not_** allow that if she had anything to say about it. In fact, she would be having the opportunity to talk to this 'Jaune' on the Bullhead. All she would have to do is find a scraggly. blonde, out-of-his-league boy and give him a stern 'talking' to. Hm? Why does she assume that he was scraggly? Well, come on. _Everyone_ was scraggly compared to her in both muscle and looks. So far, all she's seen is a large number of generic people amidst the place...oh, and there _was_ that one guy in the back with a cloak obscuring his entire body, which is actually kind of suspicious now that she thought about it. She should probably investigate.

As she made her way towards the tall figure, she completely ignored her younger sisters tirade on weapons and such. It wasn't until Yang was already a good couple of feet away did Ruby notice that Yang was walking away. Ruby then hurriedly rushed to her sisters side, noticing the look in her sisters eyes, she turned her head in the direction her sister was looking to and saw a familiar cloaked figure standing in the back. When she spotted him, she kept walking but her face froze in surprise. Sure she knew that he was going to attend Beacon, but to be crossing paths with him again so soon? It was too soon! She wasn't even wearing her best outfit! She wasn't ready yet!

 _'Why am I freaking out so much?'_ Ruby suddenly thought to herself. But before she could ponder on that any more, They had already arrived in front of their target. Ruby was about to protest and tell Yang that they should just leave him alone. But of course, nothing was going her way today and Yang was already walking up to him.

"Hey there Mr. Dark-and-Mysterious, you do know that you're making yourself look just a bit suspicious right?" Yang asked, trying to get a response from him. He stayed silent for a moment, and Yang's face turned from a sort of fake cheery smile to that of a neutrally annoyed expression. She was about to ask him again before he stood up from his slightly crouched position. He was a towering 8'11'' in height, looming over both of the sisters. Yang was taken aback, she had never met _anyone_ that tall in her life. But as always, she rolled with the punched and recomposed herself. The figure looked to Ruby and leaned his head back a bit in realization.

"Ruby? Is that you?" The man asked, picking an uncovered hand up and pulling back the hood to reveal Jaune. He looked at her as if not sure as how to approach the situation. Thankfully, or hazardously depending on who you ask, Yang solved that problem.

"Hey hey hey, back up mister. How do you know my sister?" Yang asked defensively, standing in between him and Ruby. She didn't know exactly how those two met, but she would get to the bottom of it.

Now Jaune hadn't even registered Yang before she got in the way of Ruby. But for a split second, he could have sworn when he made eye contact with the red reaper, he felt a spark. Yet...when he saw Yang, he noticed that she...looked almost exactly like his sister...Orscintillant. All of a sudden, flashbacks of the past were zooming to the forefront of his mind. there was blood, fire, blades and bodies flashing through his mind at such a speed and intensity that it was becoming torture for him. Then came the voices.

 _'Run Jaune!'_

 _'Wait! Please don't!'_

 _'Help me!'_

 _'AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!'_

 ** _'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!'_**

The screams were so loud and close that he could have sworn the scene was playing out again before his eyes. He gripped his head and started stumbling about the place. He needed to get out of there. **Now**.

Jaune quickly ran past the two bewildered sisters. Yang was taken back. She quickly backed off and held Ruby in her arms on wondering what the hell just happened while Ruby instinctively tried to get out of her sisters arms to try and catch up to a still running Jaune. She wanted to know what was making him act like this. When she met him, he seemed so calm and level headed. So for him to act out like this was worrying for her. The other kids on the Bullhead just looked to see a giant rushing past the rest of them and towards the nearest window at a high speed...and didn't seem to be slowing down.

The screams wouldn't stop. They kept on coming. The world around him was shifting between the present and the past. The only thing that stayed consistent was the one window of light that was shinning a brilliant white. It was almost blinding, but for this...he'd take blindness gladly. So as the screams grew louder and the light grew closer, he looked down to his hands and saw that they were covered in blood. He panicked a bit more and ran even faster.

"No..." His room ransacked. "No..." The house in ruins. "NO..." His family... "NO!" His mental stability waning, he finally reached the window and crashed through. Immediately afterward, he opened his eyes to see the open sky in front of him. Below was the Emerald Forest. He looked back to the ship to see different students and even a few other adults that were trying to grab him. He did nothing as his body plummeted to the ground. It was only when he crashed into the forest floor did he come out of his stupor. But he stayed on the crater, looking up into the sky and thinking on what just happened. All of those memories that he was trying to get away from had literally forced themselves to the forefront of his mind. All because he saw someone who looked like his late sister.

"...Am I really this weak? To the point where I can't even suppress it any more?" Jaune said to himself as he heard the distant hollers from the Bullhead above. He thought about how that one girl looked so familiar to him. It was like looking at a face that had been long since dead. But instead of seeing a pair of lifeless eyes that belonged to a decapitated head, he had seen the very much alive lilac orbs of another person who just so happened to look like his deceased sister.

"Orscintillant. Why does she have to look so much like Orscintillant?" Jaune asked himself as he wiped his hands down his face. When he opened his eyes, he looked at his palms to see that they weren't coated in blood any more. He surmised that it was just his mind doing that to itself. He sighed and let his arms fall back to his sides. He stayed there for a few more moments before he decided that he wasted enough time lounging about there. He looked around and saw that he was in the middle of a clearing within the Emerald Forest. He also tried to think about a way he could prevent that little episode from happening again.

"Perhaps if i wear a blindfold I wont have to look at her again. It wouldn't be all that different from training my senses. And I can still sense the Auras of everything around me, so getting around shouldn't be a problem. I'll have to see if I have my blindfold still." Jaune said as he made his way to the cliff side. He noticed that another Bullhead was on its way to the clearing. He thought about it for a few moments before deciding that he could just hitch a ride with them. So with a sigh of mild exhaustion, he sat down on the grass and started meditating.

 _'If I want to be able to prevent that from happening again, I'm going to have to do a better job in keeping them locked up.'_ Jaune thought, getting into an all to familiar process of suppressing his memories into the deepest recesses of his mind. The events of his childhood-or lack thereof-has stuck with him no matter how much he's tried to force them out. The closest he's come to getting rid of them was locking them away into his inner vault. However, despite his best efforts, there was always something that would force him to remember. He thought he had them locked up for good this time, but evidently he was wrong. What worried him the most now though, was that they had never been this intense before. _'Perhaps I have become too soft. I need to amp up my training.'_ Jaune mused. Then had another flash of the past as he proceeded to lock them away. He shuddered slightly in sadness as the feeling of overwhelming melancholy washed over him. _'Never again. These memories have made me weak. I need to become stronger. I'd rather die than live through that again.'_

As he finished up his brief meditation, he opened his senses again to see the Bullhead upon him. He stood up and started walking up to a mildly concerned Ozpin. They stared at each other for a brief moment, having a silent conversation between them. Ozpin nodded and closed his eyes before allowing Jaune to pass him by. After they both entered the flying machine, the Headmaster left the teen alone with his thoughts. But Ozpin was still quite worried about the blonde. He had only seen this kind of behavior in a friend he once had many years ago. He had lost everything. His job to an injury. His wife to bandits. And his daughter, to Grim. He had seemed normal to anyone that saw him on the streets. But his close friends, notably consisting of only Ozpin himself, could see that he was suffering on the inside. Ozpin had to watch as the man would slowly digress from the fun and loving man to a bitter and troubled husk that was once a respected Hunter that relied on alcohol to get through his day. The worst part however, was when that very same man broke, went into the Grimlands with nothing but the clothes on his back, and a picture of his family that was later recovered from his mangled and torn corpse. One of the only things that stayed in tact was his head, and one of the saddest sight that Ozpin had ever seen was the look of pure happiness that was glued to his friends bloodied face. Another was when he held a small funeral for the man, no one else came. He had lost everyone. All because he never sought out the help that he so desperately needed. He made that mistake with them, but he'll be damned if he made the same mistake with Jaune.

"Jaune." Ozpin called, getting no visual response from the teen. He kept his head lowered with his hood up. His cloak covered anything that would have otherwise told the man of his reaction. in spite of this, the Headmaster decided to continue as they made their way toward the academy.

"I fear that the path you are taking is one that can only end in disaster." The Headmaster said, looking at the other occupant of the Bullhead with a face that spoke of experience. Jaune shifted a bit to look at Ozpin with a blank stare. The younger man had half a mind to just ignore whatever the Headmaster had to say, but thought that he at least had to hear him out for giving him a spot in his academy.

"What exactly are you getting at Ozpin?" Jaune asked, feeling a small bit defensive. He had no idea what the older gentleman had to say, but he could already tell it had something to deal with his little episode on the Bullhead earlier. If this conversation lead anywhere to his past, he was going to immediately shut it down.

"Jaune, I have seen a friend go through the same things you have. He lost his family, his job, his wife, his child. And ultimately, he took his own life. The only one to arrive at his funeral was me. He had pushed away nearly every person in his life to try and prevent himself from losing someone again. He even turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows away. Jaune, I do not wish for you to go down that same road. I'm sure your family-" Ozpin tried to say, but was immediately interrupted by Jaune who gave him an intense death glare.

"My family is dead. they're not coming back. And did your friend have to go through four years of constant torture?" Jaune asked in a heated voice, standing up to his full height and letting off an intense Aura. "Did he have to be subjugated to experimentation?" Jaune questioned, taking slow steps toward the Headmaster. Ozpin was surprised at this. He knew that Jaune went missing for a few years, but to hear that he was taken to be experimented on...

"Every day, that scorpion bastard observed as they skinned me, burned me, froze me, mangled my intestines and made me watch! I was injected with so many shots and force fed countless amounts of concoctions that every single nerve in my body had been torn to pieces! I felt my very soul being ripped apart! The only semblance of sleep i had was when they knocked me unconscious and took me to a new location only for the process to start all over again! I wasn't the only one either. I've seen men, women, Faunus and even other children put through the same shit i did! But one by one, they started disappearing. It wasn't until there were only a scant few left that I busted out of there. Out of everyone there, I was the only one to actually escape. So tell me Ozpin. Tell me how _any_ amount of 'help' is going to be able to fix _this_." Jaune said, walking up to the older man, moving aside his cloak and lifting his upper training GI to show Ozpin all of the scar tissue that threatened to cover the entirety of his torso. "Tell me Ozpin." Jaune said, dropping his arm and allowing both his GI and his cloak to rest back to their original places. The Headmaster was silent as he had no response to that. Jaune, feeling ill tempered, growled before crouching down and grabbing the older man by the collar of his suit. "Tell me." No response. **"TELL ME!"**

"I can't." The Headmaster said, looking Jaune strait in the eye with a hardened expression. Jaune kept his gaze for a few more moments before letting go. He let out a heated breath before walking toward the bay doors. They had landed shortly after his rant. Jaune looked outside for a minute before taking hold of his cloak and tearing a strip off from the cloth. He then tied the piece of cloth to his head, using it as a makeshift blindfold. He was going to use it until he got his official set. Those were more fitting for him. He turned his head to the side, giving Ozpin one more side 'glance'.

"That's what I thought." Jaune said before walking away, leaving the Headmaster to his own thoughts.

 _'This is much worse than i initially thought. I assumed his pursuers were people he ticked off. But now it would seem that they are trying to reclaim their property. But he mentioned a scorpion. Could he be speaking of the alleged assassin Qrow mentioned? So many questions, no answers.'_ Ozpin thought to himself as he stood up and straitened out his suit. He then proceeded to walk out of the Bullhead and decided that he would discuss this with the rest of his inner circle. And then there was the issue of Jaune as well. His behavior is quite unstable. it's almost as bad as his friend was in the last few months of his life. _'Jaune, you were meant for great things. Don't let the past get in the way of that.'_ Ozpin thought, seeing the receding form of Jaune walk toward the main hall before he stopped and turned his head in a seemingly random direction. After a few seconds, he made a mad dash towards wherever he was looking toward.

* * *

Jaune was now running toward a familiar Aura that he sensed to be in some kind of trouble. He expertly dodged and weaved through the crowds and different obstacles on his way. When he was close, he noticed that the familiar presence was near another presence that he was not familiar with. But what caught his attention was the bright energy that the other presence was shaking around. It seemed to linger in the air after they waved it. He quickly recognized it as Dust and sped up his run just in time to create an orb of Aura to encase the substance before the familiar presence let off a sneeze. He then heard the unfamiliar presence gasp in shock before huffing in annoyance. But he didn't pay it mind as he funneled the encased dust into one of his many pouches. The unfamiliar presence then let out a low growl as they-what he guessed-glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing? That Dust is property of me, Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the SDC. I demand you hand that Dust back to me this instant!" The Heiress screeched. He rolled his eyes under the blindfold and sighed before turning to her. He notice that her Aura was painting a fairly small frame. He literally had to tilt his head down a fairly decent amount to look at her in the face.

"Never heard that the bastard had a second daughter. Though, if you are the Heiress, i would think that you would know how to handle Dust with a bit more care." Jaune said flatly, causing Weiss to look offended before growing angry with him.

"How dare you!? I am Weiss Schnee! You should be treating me with more respect! I demand your respec-" Weiss started before being abruptly interrupted by Jaune as he clamped her mouth shut with his hand. She was so shocked by this that she stopped talking after he removed his hand. He let out another sigh before shaking his head. He briefly noticed the other presence behind the tree a few feet in front of him before turning back to a still shocked Weiss.

"First of all, Shut. Up. I'm not exactly in the mood right now to deal with your constant screeching. Second, I don't care what you are. Where you come from. And _especially_ not what you have to say. And before you go off on how i'm below you and how high privileged you are, i'm going to tell you exactly what I've told your father. Doesn't matter your title. Don't matter how much money you have, you can die just as easily as the next guy." Jaune said, though he left out the part where he had the elder Schnee by the throat. slightly crouching down to 'look' strait into her eyes. She had wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. He started to turn away before he turned back to her.

"Oh, a word of advice. Whenever that old man croaks and you take the SDC as your own, tone it down on the slavery, I've got a friend who has family under your father's thumb." Jaune said, leaving a completely flabbergasted Weiss to slowly walk away from them. He then turned to the one person that he even came over here for.

"Jaune? Is that you? B-but...you-and then-you fell..." Ruby started asking, trying to figure out how he was here in front of her after she saw him _literally jump out of a window of a flying Bullhead._ Jaune, in spite of all of the recent negativity he's been feeling, actually smiled at her. It was weird. Having someone that could make him smile and feel better by just speaking. It was...nice. A good change in pace from what he's used to.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about that right now. How about we just talk about things while we head toward the main hall." Jaune said, trying to deflect the reason he jumped out the window in the first place. But with a subject as serious and big as that...she obviously persisted. I mean, you don't just have a person you know jump off a flying vehicle, have them show up again completely unscathed and _not_ talk about it. So as he gently lead her to the main building a few yards ahead of them, she sputtered in surprise before turning her head to him.

"W-wait! No no no, we have to talk about what happened in the Bullhead. You were completely normal one minute and the other you're gunning it to the nearest window. What happened? Are you okay?" Ruby asked, stopping in her tracks, allowing Jaune to stop a few feet ahead of her. He didn't face her immediately, but turned to her with conflict still written on his face. When she saw that, she immediately took a step toward him wanting to know what the problem was...which was weird. Because she hardly knows anything about him and she already feels like he's important to her. Like a best friend, or a best-est friend. She's not complaining, because that's one more person in her already small group of friends. Which most recently diminished in numbers with the sudden leap from her old school to Beacon. She noticed that while he still looked conflicted, he managed to give her an answer.

"I...your sister reminded me of someone...someone I lost. I had a small episode and needed a breath of fresh air. And what do you know, there was a window right there. You see, I don't normally use a Bullhead to get to places." Jaune explained, trying to make light of the horrific events that he remembered. Ruby looked at him for a few more moments before deciding that it was most likely something very personal to him. She could relate to that in her own way. But she still needed a few answers about some things.

"Okay...but what's up with the blindfold? I don't remember seeing you wear one the last couple of times I've seen you." Ruby asked, making him put a hand on his chin in thought. He thought about it, but noticed that they were growing near their destination, so he just opted to tell her a twisted truth.

"The blindfold is for some mental training. Figured that I could train my mental stability in case i'm ever caught by the...bad guys i guess? though this one is only temporary, I have one that I have that's specially tailored for my training. So until i get it, i'll have to bear with this." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head in mild nervousness. And once again, he was left slightly concerned with how vulnerable he felt around this girl. He felt wrong lying to her, he felt right talking truthfully to her. It was all discombobulating! But as always, he kept his cool...kinda. But Ruby had one more question for our traumatized hero.

"And where is your armor? I saw you in it and you were so cool! You made that lightning sword and-" Before she could say anymore, Jaune hurriedly put his hand over her mouth to try and get her to quiet down. She was taken back before looking at his extremely alarmed face. She was confused at this and tried looking around to see if there was anything that would warrant this kind of reaction. When she saw that no such thing was present, she looked back at him with a perplexed and questioning gaze. He turned to her and got close to her ear to whisper to her in an obviously paranoid tone after taking his hand off of her mouth.

"Okay, i get it. But don't talk so loudly." Jaune said to her, taking an occasional 'glance' here and there at a random direction. She kept up with her questioning gaze and he opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again with a contemplative if not reluctant look on his face. When she gave him a deadpan stare, he relented and sighed in resigned defeat.

"Alright, you see..." Jaune started, trying to make up an excuse to tell her. He tried to think about how to keep her from asking any more questions. And he noted that if he wanted to blend into the crowd without her following him to ask him any more questions, he's have to give her an answer that would keep her from following him and asking more questions. He tried thinking of one before he remembered how he made himself look like before she passed out. "You see, I'm a super hero that patrols the streets at night and takes care of crime. I'm trying to keep my identity secret. Otherwise some of my arch enemies might figure it out and come after me." Jaune said, trying to make it as kid friendly as possible for her. And it worked like a charm. She positively beamed at the prospect of being friends with a real life super hero. Before she could ask him any more questions, he made note that they were already at their destination.

"Okay, good talk, I need to...make...a...report to...Headmaster Ozpin. Yes. Because, I am currently undercover here at Beacon to try and rat out some Bad guys...yeah." Jaune said, starting to walk away and hurriedly started walking away. Now it's not that he didn't want to be around her, but it was the fact that he wanted to be around her was the problem. Any prolonged time around someone has never gone well for him. Which is why he only uses dead drops whenever he needed Intel or supplies. He's almost never met his 'suppliers' in person. And he's been perfectly content with that...until now. With the arrival of this girl of interest, his attitude has been much, much more lax. And perhaps the most _frustrating_ part of the whole ordeal is that he has no problem with it. It only proves his pint that he's gotten weaker. So as of _yesterday_ , he's going to amp up his training to the maximum. So as he snaked his way around the Main Hall, he made small notice that the Headmaster was giving a speech of some kind. He also noticed that one...no, _two_ presences were looking at him, as if observing him. He'd have to deal with them another time, he needed to get to his equipment. He only departed with it because Ozpin said that everybody else had to. He felt naked honestly. Without his trusty sword and shield, he felt slightly anxious. So as he made his way to the locker rooms, his fingers were lightly twitching.

When he finally found his locker via Aura presence-he was mentally patting himself on the back for fusing some of his power into his belongings-he quickly took the great sword, putting it on his back with it's own holster. He only really calls it a holster because it...holds the blade and doesn't classify as a sheath. He then took his tower shield and pressed a button on the underside of it before it split in half horizontally. He forged it from the remnants of his family's sword. He found it in a manor he was told to excavate some time after he escaped. He had to kill the guy for it. He didn't feel bad for it either. The man was a hording pedophile. He was actually about to violate a boy's body more than he already had. What was worse was that he could tell the kid had already been dead for a few hours. So not only was this freak a hording pedophile, but he was a hording pedophile that was into necrophilia. After he killed off the man-which he later learned was a council member at the time-he had the blade inspected. Luckily, nothing had contaminated it yet. The blade itself was dirtied and the pommel was worse for wear, but otherwise okay. The shield on the other hand, was not so lucky. It was dented, rusted, chipped and melted in some parts, rendering the mecha-shifting function all but useless. He used the metal that from both-that he may note was extremely hard to smelt-to make his shield. Granted, he had to use some other not-as-strong alloys to fill in the rest of the shield. Another anomaly he has yet to be able to explain was the fact that the metal from his sword would only blend with the metal from the shield. Whenever he tried mixing it with another, it would completely solidify and leave the foreign metal in the smelted state and then he'd have to repeat the arduous process of smelting the swords metal again. So he just settled on making the core of his shield out of what he calls 'Quantibeteruim'. Don't ask him where that name came from, that in itself was a story for another time. And make the outlining out of Titanium. When he weighed it, it was around seven hundred pounds. Sure it was kind of heavy, but with his training, it weighed next to nothing for him. He was tempted to go back to his old home to see if there was more of that same ore, but thought better of it.

"No...I have no right to go back there. Not yet. Not until I find that blood crazy bastard and rip his entrails out of his nostrils...but who knows. I might be seeing my family sooner than I expect." Jaune said to himself, taking his blindfold off to look at his shield. Wiping his hand over the Arc's double crescent moons, he vaguely remembered how he used to play with his sisters. How he would spend time with his mother, and how he would depend on his father when he needed to. They were...good times. But after those good times...

"No." Jaune said sternly, pushing the already rising memories of that dreadful day to the back of his mind. he placed the two halves of his shield at either side of his sword. He never noticed the person that was silently creeping up on his form. So as he looked into his reflection on the locker, all he saw was a weak pathetic little boy who couldn't do anything for his family when they needed him most...and someone that was right behind him!?

"What are you doi-" The figure started asking, trying to get him in a choke hold, but was surprised when Jaune leaped up into the air and flipped himself to get behind the mystery figure. He then took his sword and pointed it at the person that was trying to take him by surprise. They turned around to reveal themselves as a girl dressed in a monochrome outfit and a bow on her head. He pressed the tip of his blade to her neck, making her stop in her tracks. They had a stare-down for a few moments before he placed his sword on his back again. He then nodded at her as if giving her permission to speak.

"What are you doing in here? All students are suppose to be in the Mess Hall." The girl said, looking at him with a blank stare. He kept his gaze before answering her question.

"Getting my gear, now what are you doing in here?" Jaune said, walking past her and retrieving his Dust. He also scrounged around in his belongings before pulling out a long piece of cloth that was white in color. He then strapped it to his face, obscuring his vision. It was then that the woman scrunched up her face in a mildly annoyed expression.

"None of us are supposed to get our gear until tomorrow. Who are you?" the woman asked, watching him as he strapped some weird looking bracers on his wrists. She noted that he struggled with them slightly, telling her that they were quite heavy. He took his time with putting them on. He then turned to her to answer her question.

"Ozpin has assigned me to keep watch over the school in exchange for giving me a spot here. Of course, I still have to take the orientation, as to keep suspicion from rising in the other students. There, I've answered your questions. Yet, you haven't answered mine. So...who are _you?_ " Jaune asked, looking directly at her face as he approached her. She looked to where his eyes would be with a suspicious and an untrusting glare.

"Blake Belladonna." She stated. He nodded and headed out to the night. He stopped in his tracks however, and turned back to see that Blake had disappeared. He still sensed her presence was nearby but thought nothing of it. He went back to his locker and pulled out an old photo. It was slightly singed and looked worn, but he still cherished it all the same. He never looked at it when he wasn't blindfolded. But he could read the grooves on it just the same. It was a photo of him and his family. His father, mother, sisters, and even another man that he didn't recognize. He figured that it was a family friend or even...an uncle. He entertained the idea a while ago, but thought better of it when he looked high and low only to find nothing about him. The man was a giant, easily towering over everyone else in the picture. He was completely shirtless save for the strange marine's coat he was wearing. In his right hand was a Halberd that was even taller than he was, but the most intriguing thing about him was the fact that he had a magnificent beard. It was full and angular. matching it was a mustache that defied all laws of gravity. It looked like two pure white tusks side by side. Both of them curved upwards and were the same platinum blonde as his beard. He couldn't tell if he had any hair as his scalp was covered up by a black bandanna. He shook his head and tucked the photo into his GI. He took a few more weights before lugging them out to the cliff side that overlooked the Emerald Forest.

"Alright, time to train." Jaune said, putting another pair of those five ton weights on his arms and legs. He struggled, barely even able to move his limbs until he had a flash of that scorpion Faunus went through his mind. He was filled with a burning determination to kill that man. He started punching the air trying to hit his own mental targets and trying to get used to the enormous weight on his arms. He also utilized his legs to further strengthen his body. After a few hours of this, he switched to doing 'normal' exercises. Pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, and various other workout regimens. He worked the night away, trying to convince himself that he was strong enough, but no matter how much he trained, no matter how much he refined his technique...

"It's not enough." Jaune said to himself, raising himself with a scrunched up and sweaty face. He looked to his training equipment and strapped on another ten tons to his limbs. He was stressing his body past its limits, but he didn't care. he gave off an almost primal roar before doubling his efforts and moved his body at a blurring speed. All the while, Ozpin looked at him through a camera with a mournful expression. He thought that this was like how his old friend's condition was. It was much worse.

"I don't know how to help you, Jaune." Ozpin said, placing his chin on top of his interlocked fingers. But his face turned to that of a hopeful one once he looked to some recorded footage showing the interaction between Jaune and Ruby. He paused the footage at Jaune smiling at the smaller girl.

"But perhaps she does."

* * *

 **So about that Extravaganza i was talking about...I am sorry to say that i wont be doing that. Or, at the very least, it wont be as big as i hoped it would be. the state i'm in isn't exactly helping either. But i'll upload what i have now, and we'll go from there. Again, i'm sorry for the disappointment, but i hope that you can forgive me. So until next time, Toodles~!**


	5. Initiation

**Disclaimer: RWBY was created by Monty Oum-may he forever live within our hearts-and is owned by RoosterTeeth.**

 **with the formalities out of the way, let's get this party started with the longest chapter yet!**

* * *

In the early hours of the morning, the sun was beginning to come over the horizon and Jaune was currently wrapping up his training by taking off his weights. Over the many hours he had them on, he had gotten used to them-if only slightly-, and was now thanking that one provider that created them. He contacted them one day requesting something that would further his training even more. Because at the time, he had just about mastered his own martial arts when he had reached a wall. He wasn't making any progress in his workouts. He had tried to add more and more weight, but no matter how much he added, it never was enough for him. six hundred? Nothing. Eleven hundred? Meh. He already had his weighted training GI, but he didn't think it was enough. So he decided that he needed a larger weight to effectively train. It wasn't until his patience was growing thin that his contact had told him that the 'package' was ready for pickup. When he first saw the thick bands, he didn't think much of them. But as soon as he tried to pick one up, he was met with a surprisingly heavy resistance. He had to use all of his strength to try and pick up one. There were about twelve of them. Instead of feeling angry, he was actually satisfied with the result. Ever since then, he's trained with at least two of them at a time every day for a minimum of three continuous hours. He also had them produce a heavier training GI. Of course, he provided them a good chunk of money in exchange for those invaluable resources. That was two years ago. Now he has thoughts of requesting even heavier weights. That would have to wait a while however, as he would be a bit busy trying to get used to the eighty tons he was training with last night. As he was putting away everything else, he noticed that the Scroll Ozpin gave him dinged. keeping in mind the time frame he was given, he walked toward it and picked the device from his bag. He raised his blindfold to look at the singular message he was given. After all, even though he could sense anyone within a kilometer radius, he couldn't read whatever was on the Scroll.

'Initiation starting in two hours. start at the cliff-side. Make sure to stand on one of the pads.'

Jaune thought nothing of the message and placed it in his right pocket. He then turned back to the weights he placed on the ground and pressed a small button that was on the side. It immediately let out a poof of smoke and revealed a small capsule in its place. He did this with the rest of them and placed them all in his bag. It was an impressive science that he didn't bother trying to figure out, but he really didn't care in the end. He didn't put the weights back into their capsule form when they were being transferred because it was convenient for when he wanted to train with them next...that, and he thought it would be funny imagining the flight staff trying to move them onto the Bullhead.

"Heh, wish i was there to see it." Jaune said wryly to himself as he focused his KI to replenish his energy from his all-nighter. His KI washed over him and gave that satisfying feeling of dipping into a nice warm shower. Though the only thing that would come close to that for him was the occasional bath in the local river. Even then, it wasn't all that satisfying...or hygienic. He usually liked to clean himself with his KI...Oh, right. that energy that he was given as a result of the...experimentation, was some pretty useful stuff. He could do all sorts of things with it. He could use it to heal himself, clean himself, and even use some rather devastating attacks and techniques. Like that **'** **Solar Flare'** move he used at the terminal. There were so many uses for it, he was sure that the possible uses for it were boundless. Even the slightest change in flow of it's energy would output a completely new attack. He's already created more than a dozen different techniques using the stuff. ten of them he's mastered at this point in time. **'Solar Flare'** being one of them. You cannot even comprehend how many times he's blinded himself by trying to use it only to have it backfire on him. He can't really show them off as Jaune Arc, obviously, but he can show them as the 'Justice Blanche', to an extent. He could only really go all out once he knows that no one was observing him. Though he can't really speak for the aftermath. He does not take responsibility for the disappearance of that one mountain that he does not know or care about in the slightest. So as he cleansed himself with his KI, which he called it for no apparent reason. He could call it something else, but he never felt a reason to do so. He placed the blindfold back on over his eyes and made his way toward the cliff-side. During the night, he changed his training location. He felt too exposed being out in the open like that, so he opted to go to somewhere more reclusive, like the training grounds that was offered to the students. They were closed when he arrived there, but it was nothing a little KI couldn't fix...or break in this case. He figured that he could get to the cliff-side and meditate until it was time. But first, he would have to place his training equipment in his locker before that.

"People across the sea, earth, time and space. To protect them is nothing but a race." Jaune muttered to himself, remembering an old saying that his father used to tell him. His dad always saw the job as a Huntsman as a race against the forces of both Grim and people. He said, 'It doesn't matter where the danger comes from, or even where the danger is headed, as long as we get there before they can, it's a job worth living for.' It was something that he took to heart, if only in a warped way. He would protect anyone he could, but only if he thought that it would benefit him in the long run. He had no doubt that his father would look down on him in shame. But that was why he was training. To prove himself that he was an aspiring hero that would vanquish all evil.

"Yeah right." Jaune said as he entered the locker room. He knew that what he's done, what he intends to do...they were against what a Huntsman is. But damn it all if he's going to hell before that scorpion bastard. He was almost certain that he was going to go to hell when he dies. But he was going to make sure that all of his unfinished business was settled with before then. So as he put away his gear, he lightly took notice to the stirring energies of the students in the Mess Hall. He closed the locker after taking a few energy bars for himself. He made them himself to be as nutrient and filling as possible while being in a convenient travel size. They were quite delicious too if he had to say so himself. But all that aside, he took a peak at a nearby clock and noted that he had about an hour and forty-five minutes left. So he made his way to the cliff side.

As he arrived, he noticed that that same girl from last night was currently observing him from afar. He didn't know what to think of her at first, but now she was starting to lean toward the creepy spectrum. He ignored her to sit down in his usual meditative position. He entered his inner most thoughts and was met with the familiar sight of the many fragmented images that made up his memories. he walked about in there, skimming through the images as though they were words in a book until he caught sight of a particularly bright memory. He walked up to it and mulled over whether or not he should look it over before reaching out and touching it.

Immediately, the setting changed to a grass field that had various flowers growing about. There was a quaint little house in the background. It all seemed nice, peaceful even. This was all from the perspective of a younger him. More precisely, him when he was six. It was like watching a video that you've seen countless times. Which he kind of has actually. He watched as the memory played out an all too familiar scene. He could only remember bits and pieces of it, but he could still remember how he felt at that time. He could also remember what he said along with everyone in the memory.

 _"Hey Jaune!"_ That was his twin sister Blanche. He turned to her walking up to him with a serene smile on her face. He laughed and walked to greet her. the memory went fuzzy for a moment before it came back to him in front of a T.V. with a few other of his sisters sitting next to him on the couch. The image on the screen was fuzzy as well, but he wasn't really paying attention to that. He only looked at the somewhat bored expressions of his sisters Rouge and Bleu. He let the memory blur in and out of focus as he was taken over by a feeling of loneliness. How long has it been since then? When he was happy and content with his life. ten, eleven years? Going on twelve? He smiled as he felt himself cry a small bit before the another voice came into earshot that wasn't in the memory. One he was all to familiar with.

 _"Back to this again Jaune? Why can't you just accept the fact that they are gone. They're not coming back. Ever"_

His smile died as he looked over to the figure of himself standing across from him. This other him smirked as he strode up to Jaune. He was wearing a black hoodie with blue jeans and some white sneakers. They started circling around Jaune while berating him with pessimistic remarks.

 _"Listen, this memory is only that. A memory. They are the fantasy that you wish you still had. But guess what? It was a lie. It was all a lie. You think that they loved you? They never loved you. They would all laugh behind your back. Every time you brought up your dream of becoming a Huntsman they would brush you aside. They never supported you.'_ The other Jaune said, waving his hand and having the memory shift to whispers of laughter and degrading words. He closed his eyes trying to block out the noises that were being played for him before choking out a few words.

"What do you want me to do about that, Conscious? I...I'm starting to question why I secluded myself from everyone else." Jaune said to the now named Conscious. Conscious looked disgusted at him before shaking his head.

 _"Listen to yourself. You sound like a weak little boy who needs someone to make their boo-boo's go away. Pathetic. This is the real world, Jaune. Only the strong survive out here. If you let anyone 'in' they are going to hold you back. They are going to make you weak. And then they are going to leave you. Just like everybody else."_ Conscious said, thinking that the same trick that brought his back to 'Sanity' every other time was going to work again. He was surprised when Jaune stayed silent. He was about to go on another rant when Jaune spoke up.

"It doesn't have to be like that anymore. We're stronger now. We can-" Jaune started to say, but was interrupted when he was suddenly wracked with an immense pain. He held his head in his hands as everything around him was starting to fade away. Before everything went dark, the last thing he heard was Conscious' haunting voice.

 _"We're not done with this conversation yet Jaune. Not by a long shot."_

* * *

As Jaune came too, one of the first thing he noticed was that he didn't have his blindfold on. Another, was that he was now laying on his back staring at the sky. And another thing he noticed was the grouping of people standing over him.

 **!**

He immediately kicked his feet and launched himself twenty feet away from the crowd in instinct before getting into his martial arts stance. High on adrenaline, he surveyed the scene with calculating eyes before he snapped back to his senses and looked back to the small crowd of students looking at him incredulously. He relaxed his muscles before recomposing himself. he noticed that someone was walking up to him and was going to brush them off before he noticed who exactly it was.

"Jaune? Are you okay? You were out for quite a while there." Ruby asked, walking up to him and reaching out to him. He seemed apprehensive at first. Something in the back of his mind was nearly forcing him to push her away, to glare at her for implying that he needed help. It was an almost painful thought that was going through his head. He surmised that it was just Conscious trying to do all of that...wait, if that were true, then would that mean that this entire time, Conscious has been controlling his actions from the very beginning? Bah, he'd have to work that out later.

"Yeah...I was just...meditating. I can get pretty into it if I'm not careful. Sorry 'bout that. But yeah, I'm-I'm fine. With everyone hovering over me I kind of acted on instinct. Thank you, Ruby." Jaune said, scratching the back of his head with his right hand and giving her a genuine smile. He did all this despite the fact that it was giving him a hell of a migraine in doing so. He then noticed that Ruby was still giving him a look of slight worry. He sighed and layed a hand on her shoulder looking strait into Ruby's silver orbs. And once again, there was a small spark between them.

"Listen Ruby, the truth is, I have some personal things that lead me to be the way that I am now, but I'll promise you that I'll tell you about them later. I know we only met a few days ago, but i'd like to think we're already good friends." Jaune said, feeling the nagging in his head recede a small bit while looking into her eyes. He saw her perk up at this and decided to keep going. "Who knows, maybe we'll end up being partners. And tell you what. _If_ we do, I'll let you inspect my armor afterward. I know you've been eyeing it since you first saw it." Jaune said, ruffling her hair as he passed by her. For once in his life, he felt comfortable around someone. And he had an honest to Oum smile on his face.

"He'd let me do that?" Ruby asked herself, having her own thought process of 'Your forged works are sacred', she felt honored to have been given the opportunity by someone who's obviously finds their equipment so precious...And it was the armor of a Super Hero to boot! While she thought of this, her mind caught one little snag in that line of thought. "Wait...'if'?" Ruby said to herself, immediately imagining the blonde super hero being partners with someone else. The thought brought her some...negative emotions that she only ever feels whenever Yang had the last cookie before she did. It was just something that she didn't want to happen. She quickly went back to the platforms and unconsciously made her way to the one next to Jaune, stopping a certain other redhead from standing next to him. She looked quite surprised and maybe even a little crestfallen before moving a ways down the row. Ruby noticed none of this as she looked over to Jaune and stared at his face for a few moments before he turned to her and smiled back at her. She felt her cheeks redden and turned back to the Headmaster as he began speaking. Neither of the two to-be students even acknowledged the various students starring at them due to the little episode that happened not even five minutes ago.

"Is everyone situated in their positions again? Good. However, since we are running a small bit tight on schedule, I will give you the crash course on what your objective is today. Go into the forest, venture until you find a 'relic' that has been placed for you to find, kill anything that gets in your way, and know that if you do not bring one back, you will not be accepted into the school." Ozpin said flatly, shocking most of the students there. Jaune was unfazed by it however, seeing as he's done recovery missions before. But what the Headmaster said next made him widen his eyes. "Oh, and the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years. Now farewell." Ozpin said before pushing a button and launching every one of them off the cliff with the spring boards they stood on. As the students were launched into the air, he eyed the fleeting form of Jaune and smiled. _'Just as I hoped. You are already getting better. Let's just hope it stays that way.'_ Ozpin thought, thinking about the brief interaction between Jaune and Ruby. As he walked away, he reached into his coat and pulled out his own personal Scroll and dialed a number. After a few rings the person on the other side picked up.

"It's Oz. He's already going through initiation...Yes, he's already shown that he's getting better...That's the amusing part. It's all due to a young woman he met...no, that is not definite...though I don't doubt it will happen in the future...I would _like_ for you to be here...yes yes, I know that, but it would still be nice. After all, you know that he's been looking for his uncle, Newgate."

* * *

 _'God damn it you frickin' Ozzie! Warn a guy next time!'_ Jaune thought as he rocketed through the air. He quickly readjusted himself before he subtly used his KI to fly. _'Alright! This rush, this air, this power! It's amazing!'_ Jaune thought to himself as he corkscrewed and swerved from side to side. He was really glad that this energy was able to do so many things. He's long since gotten over the asking 'how' or even 'why' he was given this strange power, and even now, he kind of worries that the organization that he was taken by would produce it again, but he was absolutely sure that he destroyed everything in that laboratory. So every time he got to use his power was a thrill for him.

Meanwhile, Ruby was currently using her Crescent Rose as a Pogo stick to try and soften her landing after crashing into a crow earlier. After getting close enough to the foliage, she readied her scythe and hooked it on one of the taller trees, slingshot herself to another tree. She repeated the process before deciding to carve her way down another one. When she got near to the ground, she let go and landed with a roll. She inwardly praised herself for such a feat. Her thoughts went to how Jaune would have thought about it.

 _'That was amazing Ruby! Say, how would you like to be a super hero alongside me? We can beat all the bad guys, save everyone, and even start our own family while we're at it-.'_ Ruby's thoughts were stopped when she realized where she was taking that. She shook her head before placing her hands on her blazing cheeks. She ignored that when she reminded herself of her goal: Make Jaune her partner.

"Come on Ruby, get on one of these trees and scope him out. From there I can get to him without making eye contact with any one else. It's a fool proof plan-!" Ruby was saying to herself, walking toward another tree that was behind a small patch of bushes...some...rustling bushes...

.

..

...

"Wait!" Ruby tried to turn away, but the figure of Weiss Schnee was already through the foliage before looking toward Ruby. Starring strait into her eyes. Both looked at the other for a few tense moments before Ruby suddenly dropped to her knees in anguish.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby cried to the gods, making them really uncomfortable and kind of regretting making them go through this and decided to make it better...yeah.

Suddenly, someone else emerged from the bushes, revealing a rather stoic figure. They were about as tall as the other two, had their hair in a low pony tail and a pink stripe going through the entirety of their otherwise raven locks. They were wearing a green and black tailcoat with some tight, form fitting white pants. They looked at the two students with alert eyes, thinking that the scream from earlier was one of distress. But once they found out that they weren't in danger, they relaxed.

"Oh, I thought there was distress. My apologies. I am Lie Rei, nice to meet you. I suppose i would be Weiss' partner." Rei said, helping the younger girl up. Ruby herself was looking at Rei in mild surprise before she turned around and looked to the sky in thankfulness and hope. Though she could have sworn she saw a cloud turn into a thumbs up before turning back into a shapeless form again. She shook it off and turned back to a curious Lie Rei and a rather annoyed Weiss. Ruby smiled sheepishly before letting out a nervous giggle.

"Sorry about that, I just...let's just start over again. I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. It's nice to meet you." Ruby said, sticking her hand out to the two. Rei just gave her a serene smile before taking her hand. Weiss looked on before she scoffed.

* * *

Jaune had already landed and was currently running through the forest. He looked around with his KI, trying to find a particular presence. He found it among two others. This sent a wave of concern through him, he stopped to lock onto where she was exactly before he gunned it, leaving a surprised red head behind. She tried to call out to him, but felt her voice die off in her throat. She became downtrodden before deciding to walk off into the forest. She supposed it just wasn't meant to be. she looked to the sky, silently asking her why this was her fate. The primal gods would have corrected this anomaly if it were they who were in control, but with the new age deities, they decided to only offer their apologies and to make it up to her later on.

Meanwhile, Jaune was literally tearing through the greenery. He punched through trees, tore up shrubbery, and obliterated any boulder that got in his way. His sole concern was getting to Ruby as soon as possible. There was another nagging at the back of his mind, but he didn't care, he needed to get to her. _N ow_

* * *

Ruby and Rei were having a bit of small talk before they heard the sound of crashing trees. They thought that something was coming after them. Like a Grim. So they all got into their battle stances, ready for anything. Ruby looked to Rei and Weiss, each giving each other a silent message. The three of them retreated to the treeline in wait for whatever was coming so they could get the jump on it. That was when something burst out of the bushes in front of them. Ruby let loose a barrage of sniper rounds. Rei herself pulled out her Storm Flower and released a flurry of pellets from her duel SMGs. Weiss opted to sick a few glyphs and spears of ice. However, they immediately regretted their decision when they realized what, or _who_ exactly they were firing at.

* * *

"What the?" Jaune asked as he saw a storm of bullets and Dust coming his way. His eyes widened before he quickly raised his KI to protect him. He was confident that his clothes would withstand the blast. They weren't made of some flimsy cloth you know. When he looked passed the wall of death and saw three women, one of them being Ruby herself looking highly panicked. Especially when she looked into his eyes and seemingly registered who it was that was about to die. He couldn't ponder on it much more due to the first bullet impacting his forearm.

 ***BOOM***

"OH GOD! WHAT DID WE DO!?" Ruby freaked. She was hysterical over the fact that she may have just _killed_ her future partner. She was running around, mumbling to herself about all the things that were going to happen to her after this. Weiss was faring a bit better, only seeming fairly concerned. Sure she felt a sort of resentment toward him, especially when he talked down to not only her, but also her father...well, more so herself than her father, but still. This was not going to look good on her track record. She turned to Rei only to see her looking into the large cloud with...surprise?

"Rei, you do know that we just _killed a man,_ right?...Rei?...Answer me!" Weiss shouted, still not getting a response. She huffed and turned on her heel, thinking on how to make this incident seem as small as possible.0

Ruby was practically in tears now. She was never going to be able to see Jaune anymore. And it was all her fault! She was on her knees in anguish for a second time that day. She sniffled and shed tears for a boy she met not even two weeks ago. But to her it felt like they had been friends forever. She even felt a small budding flower of love. But she didn't know that yet. Jaune was the same way, and he had a vague idea of it, but he didn't pay it any heed. But...but now he wouldn't be able to embrace any of it now that he's dead!

"I'm so sorry Jaune! I didn't mean it! Please don't be dead!" Ruby cried to herself. She was trying to wipe all the tears from her eyes, but they just kept on coming. She stayed like that for a while longer, not noticing the form of Jaune himself walking out of the smoke. He rubbed his arms and dusted himself off from all the soot that clung to him when he noticed that Ruby was crying. He quickly made his way to her before he put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't look up so he decided to ask what was wrong.

"Hey, Ruby, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Jaune asked, kneeling down to her level. She sniffled but still didn't look back up.

"Well, J-Jaune, you died. A-and it was all my f-fault." Ruby said solemnly. Jaune raised an eyebrow before trying to look into her eyes from their downcast angle.

"Um, Ruby? You do know I'm right here, talking to you, right?" Jaune asked, making her look up to him, her tears still in her silver orbs. She looked into his eyes for a few seconds with that same watery expression that made him hurt in such a way that he's never felt before. She sniffed for a few more moments.

.

..

...

"JAUNE!" Ruby exclaimed, tackling him to the ground and nuzzling his neck. He chuckled before hugging her back. He then lifted them both up, showing his incredible strength. She was actually dangling by his neck because of their height difference. Rei had snapped out of her stupor and started walking up to him. Weiss looked back to see that Jaune was well and good. This shocked her immensely...until her ever famous scowl flashed across her face once again. She also started stomping her way to the three other people.

"It's okay Ruby. I'm perfectly fine, okay?" Jaune said, patting her back. She, however, did not make any attempt to let go. When he saw that Rei was smiling in mild amusement at the spectacle, he shrugged and waved at her. She in turn waved at him. "Hey there. The names Jaune. Nice to meet'ya." Jaune greeted, already knowing that the girl in front if him was going to be a good friend to count on...and nothing else...probably.

"I am Lie Rei, and I am terribly sorry for the...um, incident earlier. We thought that you were-ahem-Grim." Rei said with a tint of an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. Before either of them could speak again, Ruby suddenly piped up from her spot on his chest.

"But he's okay now and he will never ever go away again and he will be okay as long as I protect him and we will be perfectly fine." Ruby said, never moving from her spot. Jaune peered over his shoulder to her only to see her with her eyes closed and face in an adorable pout. He shook his head in amusement and patted her back before turning his attention back to Rei.

"It's alright. It's not the first time I've survived a giant wall of flaming death." Jaune said offhandedly. And It was true. He has literally tanked a flying remains of a Bullhead when it exploded _with him in it_. I mean, he knew it was going to explode and was able to prepare for it before hand, but he still braved it like a boss! When the vehicle exploded, he was hit by the vehicle when he landed on the ground. He was sore as all hell the next day, but he still survived.

This was received by an even tighter hug from Ruby. Rei was mildly concerned, but didn't feel right to pry. She herself had some secrets that she would rather keep to herself after all. However, before either of them could continue again, the Heiress decided to make her presence known. Albeit in a...'unique' way.

"Hey! Do you know how idiotic that was for you to just barge in on a group of trained huntresses!? You could have been killed! You Dunce!" Weiss exclaimed, somehow sneaking up on him and screaming right into his ear. He winced and raised a hand to rub the ringing from it. He really needed to keep a better track of her if he doesn't want to go deaf.

"Hey, I'm perfectly fine now, see? Now...step away from me, I fear for my eardrums." Jaune said, taking step away from her as if she were a sick person...and she was...or, at least she was sick of his sh-

"Alright, let's calm down. We-...me and Ruby apologized, Jaune is fine-despite the fact that I don't see how that is possible-and has Ruby for a partner now." Rei said, interrupting Weiss for once before she could go off on another rant. Weiss gave Jaune a pointed glare which he returned with a curious stare. He shrugged before she huffed and grabbed Rei by her sleeve. She then started dragged her out of the clearing. Rei only gave Jaune an apologetic look to which he gave a dismissive wave.

After Rei and Weiss were out of sight, he turned his head back to Ruby-who was still dangling off his neck by the way-and was about to ask her if she was planning on getting off until he heard light snoring noises. He looked strait ahead in slight confusion. Not able to believe that she might have actually fallen asleep hanging off his shoulders. Especially not after Weiss shouted nearly right next to not only her, but him as well.

"Ruby?" Jaune tried. He didn't get any response from her. He even tried nudging her with his shoulder a bit, but he only received a mumble and the nuzzling of her head into his neck. He tried to ignore the heating of his cheeks from that. He instead just sighed and rearranged her so that she was on his back in a piggy back ride. He looked back at her and noted that she had a content smile on her face. He smiled back and decided to carry on with initiation.

"Well, at least someone can sleep soundly." He said, moving through the trees at a careful pace. He didn't want to wake her...even if they were in a Grim infested forest that were out for your blood. And the fact that they had to get those relics as soon as possible was another thing.

"Well shit. Now I have to wake her." Jaune said to himself, stopping to try and do the regretful act of waking Ruby Rose. So he decided to try and wake her with his KI. _'Haven't done this on another person before. Hope this works.'_ Jaune thought to himself, concentrating on the same feeling he would use to get himself out of a meditative trance. But with doing it to another person, it was a bit tricky. He tried getting in tune with the younger girls Aura, but was having some difficulty. It seemed that she was emanating a sort of strange energy that he's never felt from anyone else. It was dormant, but even he could tell it was supremely powerful. It was awe inspiring really. He wondered why it was just resting there, seeing that it was literally bound to her soul, and even tried to bring it out, but when he tried, the energy threatened to attack him. After realizing that it was a no-go, he noted it for latter. Instead, he looked to different parts of her soul. It was a little freaky, seeing another persons soul. Whenever he saw his own, it was either a very dirty and broken gold, or a little sliver of white very once in a while. But with her, he saw pure white...well, close to white. It was a small tint of silver. He ogled at it for a few moments before he got back on target.

 _'Alright, now I have to gently apply this to that. Aaaaannnnnd.'_ Jaune thought to himself, giving some of his KI to her soul. But instead of the usual shimmer of the soul that he would see in himself, her soul brightened to a blinding light. Afterward he was literally forced out and into the physical world.

"AH!" Jaune shouted, grabbing his head from the pain. He didn't notice the powerful energy coming off of Ruby. After a few seconds, he noticed that a faint glow was dying off. He stared at it for a moment before realizing it was coming from Ruby.

!

"RUBY!" Jaune exclaimed, rushing to her side. Her eyes were still closed, and he would have worried that he might have killed her if he didn't see that her chest was moving with her breath. He let out a sigh before he crouched to her level. He was going to use some more of his KI until he suddenly remembered that it was his KI that caused the incident in the first place and drew his hand back. He was thinking on what to do until he heard her starting to stir from her slumber.

"Ugh. What happened. It's like deja vu." Ruby said as she took in her surroundings. "Geese, the last thing i remember is hanging off of Jaune's shoulder's and then...nothing." She said to herself before noticing Jaune kneeling not too far away, she gave him a smile, still coming out of her fog. That was, until she noticed that he had a worried look on his face. "Jaune? What's wrong?" Ruby asked, looking around to see if they were in a fight or something. Jaune on his part, pursed his lips and debated on what to say to her. Should he tell her the truth and say that he potentially may have altered her soul and freak her out, or lie to her.

.

..

...

lie to her it is.

"You see Ruby, we I was carrying you on my back since you fell asleep, and when I had to move a couple of bushes out of the way, you fell off. I was about to try and see if you were okay when you woke up." Jaune said, feeling the pressure on his soul grow with every passing second he lied to Ruby's face. She blinked once...then twice...and gave him a cheery smile that made him let out an unnoticed sigh of relief. He saw her pick herself up before showing him Crescent Rose that was on her hip.

"Don't worry about me. I'm a trained Huntress. A little fall isn't going to take me down that easily." Ruby said, making some action move noises and doing a few karate chops. Jaune got to his feet and shook his head at her. He would never have assumed that she was injured from a little fall, but he would assume something happened when he gave some of his KI to her. He didn't see any physical changes to her, which was a good thing. But when he looked into her soul, he noticed that...SHE HAD KI TOO!?

 _'That...is quite concerning.'_ Jaune thought, his eyes wide in surprise. that was not something that he would have ever guessed happened. But then an idea came to his head. _If I could do that, then that would mean...ohhhhhh fuuuuuuuuu-'_ Jaune thought, starting to see why that one group wanted to get him back at all costs. But before he could finish with his train of thought, they both heard a growl coming from the bushes. Immediately, they both narrowed their eyes and got into a defensive stance. Jaune pulled his sword from it's place and pulled one of the shield halves as well. The cool thing though, was that he pushed in a pin from the inside and planted it in the ground before keeping his arm along the underside of it. Small whirring noises were made before it started morphing around his arm, encasing it and making...his gauntlet!

"Alright, let's see what we're dealing with." Jaune said, holding his sword in his right hand and clenching his fist in he other while subtly releasing some Fire Dust from it and guiding it to the bush the noise originated from. He was scanning the area around him to see if there were any other threats around while simultaneously seeing what was behind that bush.

 _'Hm, Beowulf. not all that old, probably only spawned a few years ago. This might be it's first time out of his pack. Doesn't matter, they'll all be dead if I find them.'_ Jaune thought, opening his eyes again and waiting for the right time to-

 ***ROAR***

Now it is then!

"Take this!" Jaune called out, closing his covered fist and activating the Fire Dust in the air. He enclosed the space in front of them with his KI as well so that they didn't get burned to a crisp. It wasn't a super explosion that one might think, it was more like a combustion of flames before turning to smoke.

Ruby was about to let loose another round of sniper bullets when she saw that Jaune's shield turned into his gauntlet. she ogled at the arm piece for a few moments before he let loose an explosion out of thin air. She wondered when he was able to do that, and silently wished she could do that too.

"Target: Eliminated." Jaune said on instinct. It was a little habit he had started doing after a while. It made him look more professional...along with making him feel cooler. He then turned to Ruby who had stars in her eyes. He raised an eyebrow at that before he looked down to his gauntlet and then back at her. He then put his sword away and outstretched the same arm to try and keep her from rushing him.

"Now, Ruby, let's not get carried away here. I know you want to check out my gauntlet, but we still have initiation to go through." Jaune said, now holding a still struggling Ruby by her hood as she tried to reach out for his arm piece. After a few moments, she let up and stopped struggling. She pouted at him and gave him her best puppy eyes.

"Please Jaune? You said that if we become partners then you'd let me look at your armor! And we're partners now, so why wont you let me look at your equipment?" Ruby asked, still giving him her Puppy Eyes-patent pending- and sinking into her hood from which he still held her up by. To be fair, Jaune gave her his best poker face, telling her that he was not affected in the slightest. But in actuality, his brain just shut down from the cute-overload. She pouted some more before giving up completely. But before she could start crying over the fact that Jaune had broken his promise, had rebooted and processed the situation enough to produce an answer.

"Okay, after we're done with initiation, i'll let you check them out. That sound good?" Jaune offered, putting her down and giving her a warm smile. She sniffed a bit before looking up into his eyes with her shimmering ones.

"Really? Promise?" Ruby asked, getting excited at the prospect. Jaune smiled some more before giving her a nod.

"You have my word." Jaune said, and something else that his father told him crept up and spilled from his lips. "And an Arc never goes back on his word." He finished, feeling like those words came to him naturally. Ruby smiled again and jumped up in joy.

"Okay! Then let's not waste any more time! Come on! We have initiation to got through!" Ruby called, running up ahead in a flurry of rose petals. Jaune stood there in mild amusement mixed in with some lingering worry. He thought that he would continue to worry about it at a later time. For now, he has to keep a close eye on her to make sure that she doesn't, you know, assimilate into nothingness due to the possibility of the KI overclocking her body...not exactly helping his nerves, but at least it's motivation for him to keep up.

* * *

Yang was not having a good day.

 _'What is with that guy? first he's getting up in Ruby's business but as soon as he get's a glimpse of me he high tails it out of there and jumps out a window! After that, i thought it would be it, but nooooo, he had to come back. The next thing i know, Ruby is next to me and looking for him like a lost puppy! And then there's this morning! Ugh! That same guy freaked out in the middle of initiation. Then Ruby went up to him and actually talked to him! Doesn't she see that he's a weirdo?'_ Yang thought as she stomped through the forest. Her eyes were constantly shifting from their usual lilac to her deadly crimson. She had a bad feeling about that blonde man she met on the ship...and that wasn't just because she felt salty that a guy had _literally_ ran at the sight of her. She was beautiful damn it! _'He must have had something wrong with him. No way i'm that ugly...not that i'm ugly in the first place. When I get my hands on him again, he's in for a world of hurt.'_ Yang thought, not realizing or even knowing the reason Jaune ran from her in the first place. She shook her head and got her mind away from that deadbeat. She noticed that there were a few Grim in the area and decided that she needed to let off some steam. So with her gauntlets ready and her eyes full crimson, she went to work.

* * *

"Hey Jaune, what do you think about this cave? You think that the relics could be in here?" Ruby asked as she peered into the dark tunnel. Jaune was looking into it as well, but with a much more apprehensive look on his face. He was not so keen on going in there. Not because he was scared for himself mind you, he has stopped caring about his own well being long ago. But he was more than sure that something considerably large must have made this tunnel on it's own. he knew that Ruby was capable of handling herself, yes. You don't get into the prestigious Beacon two years early without being exceptionally skilled. But if this was a particularly old Grim, then he was sure that she would only last so long.

"I don't know Ruby, this place seems, i don't know, kind of..." Jaune said, kind of more to himself than to her. He was looking at some primitive drawing that were plastered onto the cave wall. They depicted a group of what he could tell were people fighting against a...Deathstalker. As soon as he saw the drawing of a stinger tail, the migraine that he had earlier came back full force. Images and flashes of that vile man flooded his mind along with that haunting cackle that came with his insane grin. After a few seconds he reigned it back in and took out a small bottle that he always kept around. It was a little something that he took whenever he had one of those little 'episodes'. He couldn't take it after the Bullhead incident because it was the one time that he didn't have it on him...that, and they had never been so bad as to hinge his mind in-between reality and hallucinations. In any case, he drank the concoction of herbs and instantly felt his body begin to relax. Though the full effect wouldn't take effect until a few minutes more, it did provide instant relief of any cramps he may have had. After he put away the bottle, he looked back to see Ruby not there anymore.

.

..

...

"Ruby!?" Jaune called, looking out into the forest to see if she just wandered off out of sight. When he realized that she wasn't out there, he pain painstakingly turned his head to the entrance of the cave. He wasn't entirely sure that she was in there. Maybe she just wandered off somewhere.

 ***INSECTOID SCREECH***

"Jaune, Help!"

That was kind of hard to dispute. So with a sigh, he took the other half of his shield, turned it into another gauntlet matching the other one, and took his sword from behind him. He rushed in and passed a running Ruby and into the pincer that came crashing down. He slightly struggled to keep it back, but had to break it off when the second pincer came from the side to try and strike him. He decided that the best course of action was to end this as quickly as possible, so with a quick release of lightning Dust, he applied his aura to it to make a giant sized flash bang that nearly lit up the entirety of the cave. It did what he hoped it would and blinded the Grim. It was thrashing about, trying to hit him in a blind rage.

"Alright, it's blinded. Now to crush this bug." Jaune said to himself, extending his arm and concentrating some of his KI into his palm. A moderate sized ball of blue sparking energy appeared floating in front of his hand and started growing the longer he concentrated. He idly noticed that the Deathstalker was now getting a little too close for his liking, so he decided that he charged the attack long enough. So he released the now yoga ball sized orb and fired it at the Deathstalker.

"BIG BANG ATTACK!" Jaune shouted as the orb made it's way toward it's target. When the attack made contact with the creature, it promptly exploded and sent a shock wave throughout the tunnel. Everything was starting to collapse, so he quickly made his way back to the entrance. On his way out, he saw the light of the outside, and upon further inspection, he also saw the form of Ruby looking at him with worrying eyes. He smiled and ran even faster, almost blurring out of sight. When he made it out a few feet, he suddenly stopped in a runner's pose, one arm in front of him and the other behind him.

"Threat." Jaune said, still in his pose, and paused for the cave entrance to explode and collapse, thus closing the entrance. "Eliminated." Jaune finished, standing and placing his hands on his hips. He figured that he would keep up the 'hero' facade to...actually, he really didn't know why he did that. It was just something that he wanted to do. but when he saw the look of awe on her face, he smiled too. He had a feeling it had something to do with her being happy. The reason he went to such length for this young woman was because...he wanted to keep her happy. He then walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. she snapped out of her little imaginary world and refocused on him.

"Alright Ruby, lets not wander into dark and mysterious places any more. Kay?" Jaune said, walking past her and made his way to where he believed the 'relics' were placed. Ruby blinked a few times before furrowing her eyebrows in a cute pout.

"Hey! That's not fair! How was i supposed to know a giant Deathstalker was hiding in there!?" Ruby hollered to Jaune as she tried to catch up to him. Jaune looked to his side to find that Ruby was already there with a small 'glare' pointed towards him. They he furrowed his brow in mild confusion as if just registering what she just asked.

"Ruby, it was literally written on the walls! How did you not notice that? it's pretty obvious if you ask me." Jaune said, making Ruby stutter for an answer with a rising blush of embarrassment before she decided to just stay quiet. Jaune shook his head in amusement before staying quiet.

They stayed mostly quiet during their walk, but after a while, Ruby had decided to bring up a point that she caught the tail end of. It was that weird attack he used. She wasn't exactly sure what he did, but after a few seconds there was a loud boom followed by the collapsing of the cave. She wanted to bring it up with him, but she was...distracted.

 _A strong, vibrant young man who's golden hair waved in the wind. his sharp features smiling at her. His pearly white teeth displayed in a confident grin. His deep cobalt eyes staring intently into hers. His clothing doing nothing to hide his dense and muscular forearms that were developed with rigorous training. His tall stature further enhancing their attractiveness. He has walked alone in this journey of life. Fighting and surpassing all obstacles in his way. Where he lay his partner in his heart, and take her-_

' _Gah! I really shouldn't have read one of Uncle Tai's books! It's filled my head with these dirty thoughts!'_ Ruby thought, holding her blushing cheeks and mentally screaming. it took a hot minute, but she was able to get it to a manageable level and brought her mind back to what she was trying to say.

"Hey, Jaune?" Ruby asked as they walked through some more trees. He had cut down another few branches in their way when he looked around before finally turning his attention to her. A raised eyebrow already on his face.

"Yeah Ruby? What's up?" Jaune asked, taking occasional glances around them to make sure that no Grim were around. He could also use his smell and hearing, but thought better of it. There were so many things in this forest that could hinder those senses that it would only limit him more. so he simply took little glances whenever he could. But not so often that it would be rude to his partner.

"Well. Earlier, when you killed that Deathstalker, used a weird blue energy attack. What was it?" Ruby asked, at least remembering that he wasn't using a gun. And last she checked, Dust couldn't do any of that naturally. So either he had a Semblance that allowed him to manipulate energy at will-which sounded _amazing_ -or there was something else at work here.

Jaune himself had adopted a blank look on his face. She saw that? Well...that was...a problem? It was weird, the freaking thing was that he didn't actually feel concerned or fearful that his partner knew about it. Yet at the same time, something in his head, the thing that was giving him the small headache earlier was trying to resurface again. The tea he made earlier was easing it before it could do anything though. he tried to weigh his options. On one hand, his partner could be another target for his enemies to exploit. Which, for a lack of better words, was a bad thing. She could also be put off by it, thinking that he was a freak of nature. Which wasn't wrong he supposed. Here was a normal human being that has this ability to manipulate and control energy. Who can literally decimate the battle field single handed. He was the literal definition of a bio-enhanced super weapon. Oum only knows how hard Atlas has been trying to look for him when he accidentally used his KI in a populated location. Granted, he was still in his 'Justice Blanc' persona, but still. You can see why he would rather keep his abilities hidden. He cant exactly fight the people he's been hiding from either. Draws much more attention to himself. But...if he did tell her, it could be someone else that he could possibly discuss his own KI with...that, and he apparently 'unlocked' KI for her. He was still very concerned that the result of that would be Ruby dissipating into nothing but dust.

 _"AAAAHHHHH! IT'S SO PAINFUL! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" The screams of a middle aged woman as she was injected with more of that serum. PDW-001 they called it. It was an eerie white color that would alternate from being stable to uncontrollable sporadically. Mid way through the injection, the syringe along with the mechanical arm that held it had suddenly burst into a small light before being vaporized. The woman on the other hand..._

 _Was much worse._

 _"What's happening? I feel...fine." The woman said, completely unaware that the arm that was receiving the injection was starting to crack. Not in the way that her bones were breaking but that literal cracks of light were growing up her appendage at a rapid pace. Almost as if glass was being penetrated by a bullet in slow motion, the breaking point had spread across her body. this continued until her entire body looked like it was about to shatter into a million pieces. A sudden smile came across her face, as if remembering something that made her happy. The simple act however, started the process of Fragmenting._

 _"My baby girls. Your mama's coming home." The woman said before her entire body went to the wind in small white particles. The fragments of her body had only reached a few feet from the experiment table before they disintegrated into nothingness._

Jaune shivered at the memory. He also remembered very vividly at how the same woman had two younger daughters with her. They were both twins from what he could tell. They had been holding each others hands as they dispersed from this world and to the next. He took solace that at they at least met again in the afterlife. But that made him remember his own family too. He had contemplated just ending it all to finish this hiding. To stop all the blood, sweat and tears that had filled his life up to this point. But one thing that kept him going was the information that he still had a certain scorpion Faunus to kill. his drive in life right now was to avenge his family. He's successfully tracked down numerous persons of interest in his quest for vengeance. There was a fair amount of blood on his hands that would account for that. He came back to Ruby with the decision to tell her about KI and being able to directly make sure that she didn't over exert herself and...you get the picture.

"Well...you could say that it was a super power that i have." Jaune started, feeling a bit apprehensive about telling her still. However, Ruby herself was feeling a bit confused. A super power?

"You mean your Semblance? Is that what you did in the cave back there?" Ruby asked. And it was a fair assumption. In a world where super powers are common place, it would be easy to just assume that he was talking about a Semblance. And maybe this was the universe's way of giving him an out. To tell her he was indeed talking about his Semblance and that he was just simply applying his Aura to defeat that Deathstalker...a few problems with that logic though. For one, that would mean that he has Aura, which he doesn't have right now. Why doesn't he have Aura? Well, to unlock his aura, that would mean having to have someone come close enough to actually come into _physical contact_ with him. And as you all know, he is not he most trusting of people-sans Ruby-. Secondly, without even knowing that he hasn't unlocked his aura yet, that kind of attack would have drained anyone of their Aura if not just a majority of it. So that would be illogical as well. He supposed that if he just kept with telling the truth, it would make his job a whole lot easier.

"No Ruby, i mean something that was forced on me through...synthetic means. I call it KI. It's an energy that seems to only run on stamina and my physical capabilities. I've had it for well over five years now. From what i can tell, it has unlimited capacity. It's the reason i was able to survive that blast from earlier." Jaune mentioned, making Ruby blush slightly from embarrassment. Not exactly one of her proudest moments. Jaune noticed none of this and just continued with his explanation. "With this KI i'm able to do what should be physically impossible. I can stop an oncoming train if i really tried. KI, theoretically, has no limit. But at the same time, your body does." Jaune said, getting Ruby even more interested in what he was saying. But when she noticed that he wasn't speaking, she looked up to his face to see that his eyes were shadowed by his hair. Based on what he said earlier, she could deduct that there must have been a catch to this 'KI'. She figured it could have bad if he was so reluctant in telling her, but if what he was portraying with body language, it actually might have been much worse than she was probably imagining. To understand what Jaune was trying to say, she stayed quiet and patiently waited for him to continue while they moved through the forest. After a short while, Jaune did speak up, though in a sort of whisper.

"It feels like it's trying to pull apart your body depending on how much you use at a time. While that may seem bad, it's nothing compared to what it's actually doing." Jaune said, bewildering Ruby and making her eyes widen. Why was he subjugating himself to that kind of torture? But before she could put in her two cents, he continued. "But of course, that's for someone who hasn't trained their bodies like i have. After a while, you can barely feel any sort of pain once you've got the hang of it. Once you know what your limit is of course." Jaune further explained, making Ruby sigh in relief. She thought that was going to go into a completely different direction than where he went.

"Oh, if that's it, then i don't see where the problem is-" Ruby started, but was interrupted by Jaune who still hadn't completed his explanation.

"I wasn't finished." Jaune said, taking Ruby off guard with how grave his voice sounded. While she was still surprised, Jaune continued with his story while he cut down a bush in their way. "What it's actually doing is feeding off the very essence of what makes my soul." Jaune said, making Ruby gasp in horror. There had been studies shown in recent history of what could happen if you even tampered with the soul itself.

They were not pretty.

The subject would find adverse affects that ranged from their hair changing a different shade to ones that...were honestly worse than death. The worse cases detailed the subject having been morphed at the atomic level. Entire segments of their body would be changed into a completely different material. Ranging from metal, paper, and even lava. Whatever stayed 'Human' couldn't even begin to classify as it. Bones were warped and twisted. The skin would break at the seams when one of the arms would grow an extra Femur. Their wails...they were described as nightmare inducing. They sounded like nothing ever recorded before. The only reason she knew any of this, why _anyone_ know any of this was because one had 'escaped' from a laboratory not far from her home town. She wasn't anywhere close to being born yet at the time, but her parents once heard stories of the incident. It came into town with only a misshaped arm, half of what would be a face, and everything else...no one could look at it without vomiting. Once the counsel found out about it, they immediately tried to cover up the 'incident'. But with so many people reporting what happened, including some of the worlds most famous Huntsmen at the time, they had to cough up everything.

Apparently, an _Anima_ funded laboratory was conducting experiments on people that had been abducted from their homes. The test subjects had varied from all across the globe. All traces of the company that the funds came from have all been dead ends. So for this power to feed off the essence of the soul...she wondered how Jaune still looked the way he does and not like an abomination. Semblances fed off the energy that the soul would radiate-Aura-and would be cut off once you reached too close to the soul itself. Waiting for Jaune to elaborate, Ruby stood their mortified at the prospect that Jaune would use a power that was so dangerous.

"If you use more KI than you can handle, you will eventually go through a process that I call 'Fragmenting'. Fragmenting is when your soul loses so much that it can't sustain itself anymore. From there, it starts to decay. The effects of this can be varied, but ultimately, end the same way. Either your body turns to dust in an instant, or-if your strong enough-you go through the longer process of 'Breaking'. You last only as long as the remaining energy you have left does. So pretty much, you have a battery. Some people have only lasted a few seconds, but the longest someone has lasted was about four minutes. After your 'battery' runs out, your body will start to form cracks all over. From there it will feed off of your body itself until even that can not be sustained and break away into millions of pieces. The process is always painless. And from what i could gather, the person will always think of their loved ones in their last moments." Jaune said, feeling he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye. Ruby herself, was mortified. That sounded almost as bad as the _Humunculi_ project.

"Wh-why? Why are you telling me this?" Ruby asked, really scared as to the implications of what he was trying to tell her. Jaune himself was going to tell her that she had KI too, but then suddenly realize the weight of his words. He wanted to curse himself for not thinking about what he said, but held his tongue. He just had to word this carefully then. So he stopped in his tracks and turned to her. He took notice that she had stopped walking when she asked her question.

"Ruby, i'm not going to lie, I've seen more things on this planet than anyone has the right to, I have a lot of enemies that want my head mounted on their wall. Mostly because they know about my power." Jaune started, letting a small portion of his KI leak out. The grass under them swayed with the gust he was generating. The leaves of the trees around them were swaying with the strong winds being made. After a few seconds, Jaune let his power drop again and he looked to Ruby. He was about to pull a sort of dirty trick which he's not too proud of, but it should be able to make her a bit more willing to trust him. "This is the power that they had tried and failed to create for years. Out of the dozens of others they experimented on, I was the only one that survived and escaped. Ever since then, they have chased me to every corner of Remnant, trying and failing to recapture me." Jaune said, thinking about all the run-ins with not only that Scorpion bastard, but some other selective individuals. He's managed to escape them well enough though. They're actually one of the main reasons he made 'Solar Flare' in the first place. Recently however, they have stopped with their pursuit of him. It was suspicious, and he had been on high alert since then. "I know their planning something big. Probably something bigger than i can handle." Jaune continued, admitting that yes, there were things that he couldn't do. And that he had his theories about their sudden exclusiveness. And while it hurt his ego to admit as such, it was a set up for what could very well be something beautiful. "But if i had a partner..." Jaune said, throwing out the line. Ruby had stayed still the entire time. When he brought up his dilemma, she still looked apprehensive. When he explained that he had been the success of an experimental super weapon, she seemed a bit less reluctant. When he further stated that the people who essentially _made_ him were planning something that could be devastating, she had lowered her defenses somewhat. that's when he decided to try and lure her into a possible partnership.

"If i had a partner, someone who could do the same as me, we could stop them and be the heroes of the world." Jaune concluded, trying to not only hint that he was offering her a partnership, but also appealing to her wants so as to persuade her into accepting. Not to mention that there was the undertone of 'If you don't, there is the possibility of the entire world being overrun with chaos'. But in case she didn't get the message, he outstretched his arm to her. "You can be my partner Ruby. Think about it. Fighting side by side, saving the world. And with the power. you can do so many things." Jaune offered, slowly walking over to her. She seemed to be mulling it over a bit. Still looking reluctant when he approached. So much so that she needed to ask a few questions that she needed answered if she was even going to consider accepting the proposal.

"You said that If my body over excerpts itself that I would start to Fragment." Ruby said, getting Jaune to nod, still not lowering his hand to her. It was a question he was anticipating. but regardless, the fact that she hadn't heard a solid 'no' from her was proof that he already had a nibble.

"With me, i can supervise you. Teach you. Guide you. With my help, you'll be able to do what i can do. Maybe even more so." Jaune said cool-y. He needed to make her think that he had full confidence that he could do what he said he could do. And he can, as long as there was a strict monitor on her status at all times...well, maybe that was false, but he at least needed to keep an eye on her KI signature. Make sure that it didn't go too overboard.

"How do you know you can transfer your power to someone else?" Ruby asked. It was another fair question. He had to come up with an answer quick if he still wanted her to stay with him.

"I remember how the feeling of unlocking my power felt, I'm sure that I can instill the same into you." Jaune said, once again trying to sound as calm as possible. And for the most part, it looked like she was going to accept his offer. But as soon as she was going to clasp her hand around his, she pulled away with an almost accusing glare directed toward him..

"I'll agree to it, on one condition." She stated firmly. He raised an eyebrow in interest. What else would she need to know? he's told her his motive, his purpose, the perks, and what he'd do to keep the worse from happening. Was there something he overlooked? It was then that Ruby continued, her serious glare still on him. "I want to know everything that has happened to you up to this point." Ruby stated, causing him to twitch.

Well shit.

He slightly retracted his hand. That was some hefty price. Telling her practically everything about him. That could be dangerous. Not just for him either. It could be a fatal mistake on her part if he agreed to those terms. Anyone that knew that she knew everything about him could and would go after her. It was then his turn to mull it over. So, either tell her all about his past and further risk exposure for the trade of training another in the ways of KI-which, in and of itself could prove to be costly-, or refuse and risk Ruby Fracturing and then having to vanish off the face of the planet...

Well double shit.

He then put his hand out again, albeit with a slightly disgruntled face. From there, she took his hand and shook it. At the same time, he gave her a small bit of his KI to her. Mostly just for show since, you know, she already had her KI unlocked. He just wanted her to see that she had KI now. When he let go of her hand, she took a look at herself. inspecting her hands and feeling the tingling sensation run throughout her body. It was much different than that of Aura. Where Aura felt like a nice cool trickle of stream water washing over you, KI felt like an invigoratingly hot bath that was rising in temperature. It felt like it was making her blood pump. But before she could indulge in the feeling any more, Jaune had put a hand on her shoulder, and just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone. When she looked up to him, he had a slightly amused smirk on his features.

"I know, I was the same when It was given to me too. But we wasted enough time here. We should really get going." Jaune said, getting her to nod. He then smirked some more. He figured that the atmosphere had been dampened long enough. So why not try to liven it up a little? So with that in mind, he nudged her a bit and gave her a challenging smile. "Hey, lets have a race. Whoever reaches the relics first wins." Jaune said, seeing that Ruby perked up as well, he chuckled. "We start in three, two-" Jaune said, starting a count down, but as he got to two, he suddenly made for a mad dash in the direction they were heading in last. Ruby was left surprised before she let out a laugh of her own and ran after him.

"Hey! That's cheating!"

* * *

It was not ten minutes of this 'race' that they both stumbled upon the clearing that held a sort of ruins that also had several chess pieces atop of small pedestals. They both looked at each other before coming to a silent agreement.

"Race you there first!" They both said in unison. After that, the duo sprinted all the way to the relics in record time. Unfortunately, they both also _crashed_ at the foot of the pedestals at a record pace. When they both rose to their feet, they actually took a good look at the different pieces. They each weighed their choices, calculated the weight of each one of them, and in the process, just about figured out the amount of dust particles that took up the space of that one relic. They turned to each other and once again came to an agreement. Ruby reached out and took a golden rook piece. They both nodded before hearing the rustling of bushes behind them. They both turned to see what it was. Jaune raised his hand somewhat to prepare a Dust attack should he need it while Ruby hovered her hand over her Crescent Rose.

"I'm telling you Blake, that Jaune guy is bad news. I just know it."

"Yang, i'm not disagreeing with you, but you have to understand one basic thing."

"What?"

"I really just don't care."

After realizing that it was that one blonde, Jaune immediately turned his head and reached into his pocket to pull out his blind-fold. After securing it over his eyes, he turned back to the other two students across the clearing. Ruby seemed to react to the blonde one. Must have known her or something. But that would explain why they were with Ruby on the Bullhead before...you get the point. And the other one was that one stalker he had. They both seemed to be too focused on their conversation that they hadn't taken notice of either him or Ruby. Jaune had taken a little offence to that. Both of those two had _just_ talked smack about him _while he was right in front of them_. Though on a general stand-point, they were not nearly as obnoxious as some of the other people he's met in his life.

Weiss was getting there though.

After wiping a hand down his face and groaning in mild annoyance, Yang and Blake had taken notice of him. To which they immediately tensed up and narrowed their eyes. He simply gave them a blank look and waited for one of them to respond.

.

..

...

"Yang!" Ruby called out as she charged at the other blonde. Yang was taken back and gave him a glare before turning to Ruby. Jaune said nothing about it and turned to Blake. She was still looking at him with a sort of...it was hard to describe. It was a mixture of anger, fear, curiosity, and sadness. He could tell from the wavelengths her Aura was producing. He turned his head to Yang and Ruby before he turned and walked away, opting to keep an eye out just in case anything came-

 ***CRASH***

...Crashing through.

When he snapped his head to look to the source of the commotion, he was met with...an odd sight to be sure. There on the back of a god damn Ursa was a bubbly and energetic young woman that just screamed 'migraines'. Her Aura was so spastic and wild that he was wondering just how in the nine circles of hell she could even stay rooted to this dimension. He noticed that there was another presence that followed not far after and was going to address her if the commotion behind him didn't start to grow suspiciously close to him.

"Wait, Yang! Come on! He's not a bad guy i swear!" Ruby tried to reason with her, but fell on def ears as the brawler started walking up to Jaune. The way she saw it, this Jaune character had taken advantage of her sister while she was unconscious and purposefully lead her to a near death experience! No more reasoning. It was time for big sister Yang to punch an obviously blind-to-beautiful-women man in the nose!

.

..

...

She may or may not still hold a small inferno of rage toward him for that incident on the Bullhead.

"YOU!" Yang yelled toward the taller blonde. He turned his attention towards her. However, instead of the usual scared-shitless expression that adorns a guys face whenever they see her approaching with her eyes blood red and her hair blazing, he still looked calm. Dare she say it, annoyed at it?

"What do you want? If you want to yell or _screech_ in my ear, I already got more than my fare share of that from the Schnee, so please refrain from doing so." Jaune said, making Yang falter for a second before her anger raised into even bigger heights.

"YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF MY SISTER!" Yang roared, leaping forward with a right hay-maker ripe and ready to plant itself into his face. Jaune frowned before turning his body to the side and only allowed the punch to graze his GI before putting one hand on her outstretched arm and the other behind her back before using the momentum in her punch to push her back the way she came. Ruby was surprised at his mobility. Blake's eyes widened before they narrowed once again. Jaune still kept his face in a deep frown.

 _'Damn. Does she have to fight like her too?'_ Jaune thought, feeling his heartstrings constrict upon him as he remembered all the times he's seen his sister train in the back yard. Giving an already beat down-dummy a few more heavy punches for good measure.

 _A corpse lay dead on the ground with it's arms nowhere to be seen. battered, bruised and bloodied. The building collapsing, acting as a tomb for the fallen fighter._

Jaune shook his head of the memory and refocused on the blonde brawler. Everyone had apparently stopped doing anything for a moment, but he knew better. He stayed tense, waiting for Yang to come at him again. He didn't notice the glare he received from Blake.

 _'It seems there'e even more to you than i thought. I'm going to have to keep an even closer eye on him in the future.'_ Blake surmised while everyone seemed to just stand there after Yang almost lost her balance. Speaking of whom...

"What was that?" Yang asked in a rather concerning tone. Ruby was now on the sideline looking torn. She knew there was no trying to calm Yang down at this point. But she also didn't want Jaune to get hurt either. His stance stayed the same as he felt Yang's Aura rise even more. He grumbled to himself and shook his head. He had no time for this. They had a mission to get through and while he already had a guaranteed spot here, he didn't want to risk Ruby's position. As he started walking away, he felt Yang's Aura flicker again and figured that she still wanted an answer. He sighed in slight annoyance before deciding to give her an answer.

"For your information, I spent years in learning technique, strategy, and most of all, control. What i did was simply something that literally _any_ competent fighter could mimic. Now if you want to try your luck again, feel free. But know that i will not lower myself to your level." Jaune said before he started walking away again. As he walked, he noted that while Yang's Aura had still not decreased-in fact, it might have actually increased somewhat-she did not move. "And for the record, you have a very twisted version of any given information if you really believed that i took advantage of _anyone!_ " Jaune called back, and kind of regretted it a moment later when he felt the blonde brawler's Aura spike and start dashing towards him. "Well shit."

" **That's it!** " Yang cried, launching herself once again. And just like the first time Jaune turned her around and tried to walk away. Yang immediately tried to attack him again, but this time, she went for a fake out. She faked going for a right hook, but then instantly changed the attack to a rising kick. Jaune only reacted to her actual choice of attack.

"Nice try." Jaune said simply before raising his own leg behind him to put even more force behind her kick, causing her to unintentionally do a back flip. she was able to pivot herself with her arms back towards the uncaring man. He stopped in his tracks, letting her fly over his form and land in front of him. When she looked at him, she had this fire in her crimson eyes that said 'You are going down'. Jaune paused. Then his scowl turned into a mournful frown. He couldn't tell back then, but his sister used to have that look. When she wanted to get something, there was little that could stop her. It was pride that allowed her to get so far in life...

And it was pride that ultimately killed her.

Yang didn't notice, nor care about his change in expression. She just wanted him to feel her anger. She had abandoned all rational thought and charged him with an all out assault. She threw punch after punch, kick after kick and did not relent in her pursuit to harm him. Jaune had turned around and either deflected or dodged her random punches. She didn't have much form, but he would admit she had tenacity. She didn't let up a single bit in her rush.

" **Stop Moving And Let Me Hit You!** " Yang shouted, keeping up with her blitz attack. Jaune said nothing as he kept on dodging and deflecting. The more he defended against her, the more similarities he saw between her and his sister. While his sister had _much_ better form than Yang, they both had the same fighting style. Overwhelm your opponent with unwavering strength, speed, and agility. He knew that his sister also had a way of dealing with far away enemies in the form of her Semblance: Lasso. As long as the enemy was within a certain distance, she could pull them towards her and wail on them then. He was going to try and reason with her once again before she started talking again.

 _ **"Your Going Down! Even If It Costs Me Everything!"**_

Jaune's world suddenly stopped there. That was...

 _"Your Going Down! Even If It Costs Me Everything!"_

Jaune had ceased movement when he remembered his sisters last words. It was literally impossible for her to say the exact same words. It just wasn't possible. But while he was in a shocked state, Yang took this opportunity to land a solid punch in his-admittedly hard-midsection, then driving an uppercut into his chin before reeling both of her fists back and using Ember Celica to blast him away. Yang let out a huff before smirking.

"I knew he couldn't keep up with me." Yang said confidently. Her Aura died down before she made a gesture as if dusting off her hands. She was...still not feeling better about this. For some reason, she didn't feel all that much better after supposedly 'Taking care of the problem'. But she supposed it was just because she still had to get through Initiation. Yeah, that must be it.

"Speaking of which, Doesn't Ruby have to pass too?" Yang started, but was then taken off-guard when she heard her sister call out.

"Yang! Help!" Ruby called out. Yang immediately went into protection mode and turned around to see what else was trying to hurt her sister. She didn't have to look much, because when she turned around, she was met with a...Giant Deathstalker! Her eyes widened before throwing caution to the wind in order to tackle her sister away from a swipe of the Arachnids pincer. Everyone was already fighting it with their own weapons. Rei was pelting it's hide with her SMG's, Weiss was deflecting it's stinger with one of her Glyphs. The ginger from earlier was also throwing her own explosives that were very...pink. None of them were doing any damage to it's thick hide. However Yang did notice a certain red head was only targeting the exposed parts of the creatures flesh, particularly the front of it's face where there was already a sizable chunk of bone plating missing, but even that was only doing so much to hurt it.

"Whoa!" Yang yelled out as she held Ruby and rolled out of the way of another strike. She let go of her sister as they both fell into their fighting positions. Ruby seemed to be surprised at the presence of this thing. Yang couldn't ponder on this much more though as she had to dodge a swing of it's tail. She was actually surprised that she didn't even hear the commotion of the giant thing crashing through the treeline...oh.

 _'Right.'_ Yang thought to herself. Now that she looked back on it, she kind of regrets beating that Jaune guy down...pfft, no she doesn't. But she probably could have ended it earlier. She'll probably have time to ponder on that later, as this giant Arachnid of death was currently trying to murderize them all. She ran up to it while it's attention was on the ginger. she then jumped on top of it's back and tried to crack open it's shell. The Grim's reaction was instantaneous. It was thrashing around, trying to shaking her off. All the while, she was crashing one of her fists into the hard bone plating while she used the other to keep a hold on the thrashing monster. She thought that with her strength she would at least be able to crack it's hide, but no. Not even with the added strength of her gauntlets was doing much. She was finally thrown off when the stinger threatened to impale her in the abdomen. She begrudgingly threw herself off of the thing and rolled until she was a good couple of yards away. Before the beast could pursue her, Ruby's Crescent Rose rang out as it shot off a few explosive rounds, promptly distracting it. This went on for a good few minutes, having one person attack it before having someone else take it's attention to attack it themselves. After a few minutes, it actually looked like they were starting to wear it down! Ruby was getting ecstatic. After the effects of the initial fear wore off, and it seemed like they were going to win, She realized that she was practically a Huntress now!

"Come on guys! We almost got this! Just a little longer until-"

 ***CAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW***

* * *

 **(A Few Minutes Earlier)**

Jaune's eyes started to slowly open. He was groaning and letting out pained grunts. He didn't understand, sure he was taken off guard by Yang and took some hits, but he didn't think he would get that beaten down. But when he got up from the floor, he realized that he wasn't in the forest any more, but was, instead, in his mind scape once more. He was confused and more than a little concerned. He only ever went in there when he meditated or slept. So as he looked around, he was also trying to come out of his own mind as well. Everything seemed to be like it was, but he noticed a certain individual that was missing.

"I told you we weren't done yet, Jaune." Conscious spoke up, making Jaune turn his head to look behind him. There, he saw Conscious sitting atop an elevated chunk of Memory. This Memory in particular had a plethora of energy chains and locks in it. It was just floating there. But the mere sight of it made Jaune freeze. That Memory wasn't...it was supposed to be locked away deep within his mind. He looked between the Memory and the now serious looking Conscious. The other him waited a few moments before hopping off of the locked Memory and walking towards him. The Memory followed.

"What are you doing? Conscious, where did you find that?" Jaune questioned, taking a couple of steps away from the double. Conscious maintained his serious expression before speaking up again.

"I simply want to remind you why exactly we stayed away from people to begin with. I want you to know _exactly_ why i was created in the first place." Conscious said, removing a few feet between them. Jaune was taken back by the statement. Conscious has never been this forward in all the years they worked together. And whenever he asked the mysterious man where or why he was in his mind, Conscious would either be very vague or just deflect the question itself. But if his existence was tied to _that_ Memory...he's starting to become concerned if it was really worth knowing about it now. He was going to make a move to get away, but Conscious suddenly took hold of the Memory and dashed towards him. Jaune's eyes widened as the chains broke off and only managed to gasp before the Memory was thrust upon him, enveloping him in darkness.

He tried to look around for the other him, but couldn't find him anywhere. He was almost having an anxiety attack from how nervous he was. After all...

Who wants to remember their own families brutal deaths?

For now though, he was just in total darkness. He couldn't see two feet in front of him. A cold sweat started to grow as he waited for something to happen. He didn't need to wait long before color started to seep into the scene. It was a plain looking room with blue being it's primary theme. He looked around to see that the room was decorated with various toys and an assortment of different clothes. He almost calmed down at the sight if it weren't for the fact that he knew this memory all too well. So as he waited for something else to happen, Conscious' voice rang out from every direction.

"So you do remember this place. How touching. So you also remember what happens after this as well then?" Conscious' voice boomed. Jaune turned in every direction to try and find him, but was met with only the contents of the room. This was a side of Conscious that he's never seen before. They had never taken control like this before. Ever. He's always been the main driver in his own mind. Conscious himself stated that he was only a guide to help him survive. He's never been able to stop him from doing anything. So for this to happen...

"If you're wondering how i'm able to keep you here against your own will, then the answer's simple: I didn't think you were threatening your own life before." Conscious said, further confusing Jaune. Threatening his own life? That was ridiculous! He's done nothing of the sort. Plus, he's already taken on missions that almost ended his own life. He's got the scars to prove it!

"No no, I think i worded that wrong. I didn't try to do this because you weren't threatening _my_ life." Conscious corrected himself, striking a cold spike through Jaune's body. He needed to get to the bottom of this. This didn't feel right. Conscious was just something that his mind created due to the mental stress of...his past. He should have literally no control over anything in his mind. The best thing he could due is send subliminal messages through producing different chemicals in his own mind. No, if anything, he should only be the manifestation of his own brains actions. So even the thought of him being his own person is preposterous.

"Well that's rude. telling me what i should and shouldn't be capable of...oh, sorry, I thought you knew i could read your thoughts. At any rate, it is true that I was born due to your mental stress. I was made just to placate you by being the embodiment of your survival instincts. I helped you. I guided you. And i was even there to keep you going." The other him said, sounding tender and kind. Jaune himself remembered the times where he was encouraged by the copy. It happened a lot more times than you would think. But then the scenery around him started to change...

It was starting.

All of a sudden, Jaune could hear the sounds of shouting from outside of the house. He dreaded the noise, for that signaled the beginning of his living nightmare. The atmosphere became very heavy and held him in an overwhelming dread.

"But after that little slip up you had a couple years ago, something changed within me. I had a little taste of that glorious KI of yours. It was an eye opener. i could suddenly think for myself. I could act upon my own will. I suddenly didn't have to mindlessly listen to that shrivel little voice that was your-hehe-conscience." Conscious said, explaining where he got his own free will while simultaneously reminding Jaune of what happened when he had to fake his own death. All the while, the sounds from downstairs was getting louder and louder. A red and orange glow was growing just outside the window. A commotion was starting just outside of the door.

"Don't you remember, Jaune? Those who saw it were going to start talking. Because of your little stunt, you were forced to...silence them." Conscious said. Jaune looked back to the assortment of men and women he has had to kill in order to keep from word getting out about his powers. There was innocent blood on his hands. All because he wanted to keep hidden from those dastardly people. It was the main driver as to why he never even associated himself with another. There was too much risk of exposure. But the only reason he conserved himself from the public eye was to-

"'Protect them', right? So that they wouldn't have to lose their lives for something that they had no control over. But you and I both know the real reason. Don't we Jaune? It's alright to admit it. There's nobody around to condemn you...this time. You were only thinking about your own safety. You didn't care if a few stragglers were caught in the cross hairs, as long as you were in the clear, it didn't matter how many people were discarded." Conscious' voice bellowed. Before Jaune could respond with anything of his own, The door to the room burst open revealing none other than his own father, Cornelius Alexander Arc. He was a rather tall man, with a height of 7'1" and the build of a weightlifter, He didn't look a day over thirty if it weren't for the graying portions of his full beard and hair. He currently had on a full suit of armor and dawned the family weapon: Crocea Mors.

"Jaune! Wake up! We don't have much time!" Cornelius shouted, running towards the only bed in the room. There, the older man threw the covers off and revealed a little Jaune being woken up abruptly and looking panicked. Jaune looked at the man with a teary eyed expression. This part of the memory was one of the last few minutes he'd ever see his father again. He wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to shut himself off and wait until this was over, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. This was the most recent memory of his family, and thus, was the clearest depiction he'd had of them. Every other time, even the one he's most fond of, has had some inconsistencies about his families appearances. They were minor, sure, but when it came to them...he'd spare no expense to remember exactly what they looked like as he drives the blade of his bloodline through the scorpion Faunus' heart.

There was a small sigh as Conscious looked at the scene as well. He still wasn't visible, but even he had some sympathy for this moment. He was born right after this after all. Maybe even during it, but that was a matter for another time. This was a memory that he'd re-watched countless times on his own whenever Jaune had nightmares. So with a small bit of reluctance and some small resentment, he froze the memory just as one of the walls of the room was burst through. It was enough to shake Jaune out of his trance and afterward, was looking around trying to find his double again.

"While seeing this memory would set you strait, I would not benefit from a comatose host. So i have instead brought you here to see something that not even you were aware of." Conscious echoed. Jaune was confused. Something he hadn't been aware of in his own mind? That was...well, considering everything happening around his was essentially out of his control, he'd figure that Conscious would have something to do with it.

"Such a smart boy. You catch on quick. But enough with the interruptions. I'm growing tired of it." He boomed, and with a shift of color, Jaune bore witness to a part of this memory that he had never remembered seeing before. In fact, it seemed that this was an entire segment of this Memory that he couldn't recall. Conscious merely chuckled before playing the scene.

 _Out in the ruined front yard of the Arc household were various individuals. Due to their clothing, you wouldn't be able to tell who was who...or, that would be, if they didn't have their face masks off and had tails and ears of that of an animal. The house itself was almost completely collapsed and buried in flames. Directly in front of the burning house was a rather nimble looking man in a suit. It consisted of a grey blazer over a maroon vest and a yellow dress shirt. His pants were of a similar color to the blazer. He was tightening his finger-less gloves on his hands. He seemed to speak but they were too far a distance to hear them clearly. But when he turned to the person next to them...He saw **HIM.**_

 _"The mission was a success, Watts. The entire family has been terminated." Said the other man as his scorpion tail flailed aimlessly. In his hands were a pair of arm blades that vaguely resembled pincers. His head was turned just enough to see that grin. That same grin that overlooked his torture. That same grin that accompanied his cackling laughter. His eyes were a dangerous amber, but flashed to a maniacal purple for an instant before reverting back to the insane yellow. His overcoat was brown in color, having seemingly no shirt underneath. He also wore knee high boots and a pair of white pants._

"This...Conscious, what is this? I don't remember any of this. Conscious, answer me!" Jaune demanded, his pupils dilated. He was gritting his teeth. This was never something that he thought happened. He thought that there were just bandits that attacked his home. Sure, his family is mostly comprised of Hunters and Huntresses, but...There was one clan that he thought might have been responsible for it.

The Branwen Clan.

They consisted of either Hunters gone rogue, veterans, or even those that went out on there own and survived Darwin's Law. Either way, the clan was formidable in it's own right. But there was one person there that was a cut above the rest. And that was the clan leader.

Raven Branwen.

She was one of the _very_ few people that knew about his powers. Reason being that she faced him after he had stopped about a few dozen of her raids on the different villages he's been contracted under. He could tell just by the amount of power she emanated that he shouldn't be holding back. So they clashed swords, bashed blades and butted heads. But when she added her portals to the equation, he was starting to struggle. It wasn't when she was preparing to cut him clean in half _vertically_ that he decided to pull out his only trump card. His KI. But of course, that isn't to say he come out unscathed. The scar on his face was caused by her attempt at his life.

The tables had never been turned so quickly. He boosted everything he could with KI. His speed, his strength, his perception speed, even his versatility. Using his KI, he had so many more attacks and moves to use. Where as before, they were on somewhat even grounds, with his KI, she was only moving at a novice pace in comparison. So with a final swing, he not only broke her blade, but he also knocked her a few hundred yards. He effectively protected the village...

But that was when he had to stage his own death.

There had been a few people that saw the spectacle. Not everyone, but there were still witnesses. Some of them even had their Scrolls out and recorded the entire scene. He had to act, otherwise word was going to get out. And if word got out, then there was going to be a manhunt for him. Ranging from Atlas and their never ending pursuit to evolve their own art of war, Sienna Khan wanting him among the White Fangs ranks. She only really wanted him in there because she was _convinced_ that he was Faunus as well. He wasn't. Did it look like he had animal ears? Scales? Or even a monkey tail? Come on. Next thing your going to tell him was that he would gain a major strength boost whenever he survived a life or death situation. Or that his hair could grow longer and that would make him infinitely stronger than he was before...

That would just be stupid.

But to the matter on hand, Mistral wouldn't mind having him among their 'Royal Guard' either. They really cared about their strength, he'll tell you that much. "Strength Is Justice" Was the motto. If you didn't have any, then you were going to be torn to shreds by those who did have power. And obviously, there was that one group that was tailing him this entire time. So he had too make a decision, either run and have to go under-ground for the rest of his life, effectively destroying any and all possibilities of getting revenge on the Faunus that overlooked his torture, or get rid of anything and _anyone_ that might have seen him.

To him, the choice was quite clear.

He's not proud of what he's done. Left so many families without their son, daughter, uncle, aunt, etc. But...he did what he did, because there was no other way. They were most likely going to die by another's hand at some point. Either by another Bandit raid, or by the inevitable wipe that the organization was going to do once they find out where the footage of him originated from. But now that he knew that they were responsible for his, and that it didn't just consist of Faunus...

"Yes, this part of the memory in particular was very hard to piece together. I only had a few faint voices and some scents to work with. It's been in the works since you-or we i suppose-were ten-ish. I figured now would be a good a time as any to finally show you. For you must remember why we do what we do." Conscious stated, having seen the angry look on Jaune's face. That death glare was pointed directly at the scorpion Faunus. He was going to capitalize on that.

"If you want to kill that man-that _monster_ , then you must cast away all other obstacles in your way. That includes that Rose girl. She practically has you wrapped around her fingers. It's embarrassing. She is hindering your progress." Conscious said, starting to see Jaune sway back to his side. He almost had the young man within his clutches. And this time, he wasn't going to let go of him.

"You want to destroy Tyrian, do you not? Then we will destroy everything that stands in our way!" Conscious boomed, making the area around Jaune become very heavy and heated. "Anyone that get's on our way...no, any _Mortal_ that dare get in the way of our _plan_ will be met with our _divine wrath_!" Conscious said, finally seeing Jaune lose himself and look on blankly. His eyes were lifeless and without emotion. Perfect. So with his mission complete, Conscious returned the area to it's normal setting. He also manifested himself across from the young man, smirking at his handy work.

"Good boy. Now come, we have much to do-" Conscious began as he was about to touch Jaune's shoulder. But when his hand was just about to make contact with the blonde man, There was a call. A call to Jaune.

"Jaune!"

There was a pulse that resonated within the man. Suddenly, his eyes regained a spark, and Conscious' hand had to recoil do to the shock he received just by being near him. Jaune knew that voice from anywhere. That was-!

"Help!"

"Ruby?" Jaune muttered silently, having still not broken from the trance Conscious put him in. Conscious himself was both baffled and enraged that the same person that was a threat to his very life was pulling Jaune away from his control again. When they first layed eyes upon her, Conscious immediately had a bad feeling about her. But when they actually got to see her up close, he could already feel the control he had over the boy waning. So, he had to make a plan to get him back to his control. So he figured that he would possibly trigger a flashback to fix him. And that Yang character was just what he needed. But when that didn't work, he had to resort to try and finish that memory he'd been working on for the last few years. And it seems that Yang gave him another way to get him into the ideal setting. But right as he was going to lock his host away and make sure that _he_ stayed in charge, little miss riding hood decided to crash the party!

"What!? No! She shouldn't be able to reach you in here! It's impossible!" Conscious said as the energy gathering within Jaune grew. The area around them was starting to light up with power. When Conscious looked around to see how she was even able to communicate with him, he looked over to Jaune's Soul and noticed something. Something that made him grit his teeth. There in the mix of dull gold and white, was a solid chunk of silver white Aura.

Ruby's Aura.

It seemed that when Jaune unlocked Ruby's KI, he not only gave her a part of his soul, but he also received a part of her soul in exchange as well. Literally making them soul bound.

"No...No...No No NononoNONONONONONONONONO! **NO**!" Conscious bellowed as his own KI rose out of him. He was beyond angry that this was even happening. And even worse, he couldn't even feel his own influence on Jaune anymore. His power was dwindling. And worse yet, Jaune's own soul-which was now starting to polish into a brighter shade of gold-was now seeping away at him as well. Conscious very quickly realized that it was stripping away what made him become sentient in the first place. In just a few moments, he would return back to the little voice in the back of his head. Being nothing more than just his base instincts that would guide him mindlessly.

" **NO! I REFUSE TO GO BACK TO BEING THAT SHRIVELED LITTLE SEGMENT OF HIS MIND! IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MY TURN TO SHINE!** " Conscious yelled as the right side of his body became slightly melted. He was starting to meld back to where he came from. " **MY REIN SHOULD HAVE LASTED FOR EONS! I WAS GOING TO BE THE DIVINE GOD OF THIS WORLD! EVERY MORTAL THAT WOULD DARE DEFY ME WOULD PARISH! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT WORLD. _MY_ PERFECT WORLD!**" Conscious continued, his voice sounding more and more distorted as his body was beginning to be sucked into Jaune's soul. When he started to loose his footing, he tried to grab onto the nearest strand of Memory. There, he was trying to hold on for dear life.

" **IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BEAUTIFUL!** " Conscious said before the hand holding on to the Memory dissipated into nothing. His now horribly misshapen eyes widened in horror as he was now plummeting to his doom.

" _ **DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!**_ " Conscious cried one last time before dispersing into dust and absorbed by Jaune's soul. Afterward, it's shine stopped and revealed a now shiny and healthy looking soul. It was still missing a piece or two, but with enough help, it would heal.

* * *

Meanwhile, with Jaune, he was now beginning to come to, not really knowing what happened. But then he heard another cry.

"Help!"

His eyes snapped open and searched the area. When he realized he was somewhere in the tree line, he ripped off the blindfold and booked it to the clearing. Once there he scoped the area. It was a mess. Scorch marks everywhere. So were craters and trenches, but what caught his attention was that Ruby, being pinned down by the cape with a giant feather, was a siting duck for the Deathstalker that was about to bring it's stinger down upon her. Everyone else was either too busy with a few more Grim that showed up, trying to defend against a hail of feathers, or were too far to reach her on time. His breath hitched. His pupils dilated. And everything came to a crawl.

"No."

But with that simple word, Jaune's KI flared to life and he took off like a rocket. He grit his teeth, furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his fist to stop the death of _his_ Ruby.

" **HAAAAAAAAAA!** " Jaune bellowed, giving a hearty war cry. In an instant, he was in front of Ruby and unleashed the strongest blast he's used to date.

" _ **Maximum Flasher!**_ " He cried and outstretched his palm to unleash a bright beam of energy that completely engulfed the Grim, causing it to let out one final screech before the beam tore through everything behind it. Trees, shrubbery, and even the mountain in the distance was not exempt from his rage. In it's wake, a massive trench was left behind the attack was so powerful, that nothing was left of the creature. It had been completely incinerated. Everyone had stopped to look in awe at the show of such power. Even the Nevermore above them seem to be surprised by the spectacle. Or, that was, until it cawed in anger.

Jaune, after coming down from his rage, looked back to see that after it gave it's own war cry, the Nevermore was gunning strait towards him. But since that blast took a good chunk of stamina from him, he was still trying to recover. But he did have enough energy to rip out the giant feather keeping Ruby on place and take her to an ice dome that Weiss had made. Shortly after making it safely, the entire structure shook and even had a few feather ends penetrate it. Once Weiss restrengthened the dome, they all turned to Jaune and Ruby. Yang was the first to ask.

"What the hell was that!?" The blonde brawler asked. If he could do that the entire time...Do you think he holds grudges?

"We don't have time for that. We need a battle plan." Jaune said, sounding a bit worn out from that last attack. But everyone listened in all the same, especially after the dome shook another time.

"Okay, so what's the game plan?" Nora asked, seeming a lot more serious that she usually is. Jaune thought about it for a second, looking among the rest of the people around him. He knew that Ruby had sniper rifle. Yang was a physical boxer that-if he inspected the correctly-had gauntlets that could shoot shotgun rounds. That Nora girl had a hammer. Rei had a pair of dual SMG's that doubled as blades. That other redhead had a spear and shield. Weiss had her Glyphs and Dust. Blake had that blade at her side...There!

"Alright. Here's what we do." Jaune started, and had everyone listening intently to what he had to say. "I'll draw it's attention. Once i do that, i'm going to need Weiss to cover me if it decides to throw another barrage of feathers. But if it decides to try and dive bomb me, then i'm going to need you to drag it down to the ground with all the Gravity Dust you got." Jaune said to Weiss. She nodded firmly, rotating the chambers in her rapier. He then turned to Yang and Nora, not even phased by the likeness of Yang and his sister for some reason. "Alright you two, once it's brought down to the ground, i'm going to need you to make sure that it stays down. Got it?" Jaune said as the two brought out their respective weapons. The dome shook again. He looked to Blake and Rei. "And you two will have to make sure that it can't use it's wings again. Clip 'em. understand?" Jaune instructed. They both nodded in agreement. Finally, he turned to the last two redheads. "Okay, Ruby, i'm going to need you to try and take out it's eyes." He told Ruby, and she grunted in affirmation. He then turned to the last redhead. "You, what's your name?" He asked. She was surprised for a second, but then answered him.

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos." She said, waiting for his response. He looked at her for a second before nodding to her.

"Okay, Pyrrha. Do you think you could help Ruby with taking out it's eyes?" He asked. She nodded to him and shifted her spear into it's rifle form. He smirked at her before he responded. "Good. Then this should go by a bit more smoothly." Jaune said, and then addressed them as a whole. "Alright everyone. Once we incapacitate it, I want everyone to go to town on that overgrown turkey." He concluded, looking at each of their faces. But he noticed that some of them were apprehensive about going out there again. He sighed and looked to the side before speaking up again.

"Listen. I know this is really new to some of you. And you might even be scared right now. But that's okay. It's natural to be scared. But you cant let that fear control you. We've trained all our lives to get into this school, and like hell a giant bird can stop you from achieving that dream." Jaune started, trying to instill courage into them. But when he saw that they were still a little scared, he softened his smile.

"Hey, no ones going to judge you if you decide to stay in here. If you stay, then the Teachers will probably come and escort you back to the cliff side." Jaune continued, but his face changed to a more serious expression for the next few words he was going to say. "But the moment you walk out of here, you. Are. A. Hunter." Jaune finished, returning his gauntlets back into the shield halves before turning them back into the whole shield, and brandishing his sword. They all stared at him in awe before they all gained determined expression themselves and nodded. Jaune smiled back at them before the dome shook once more.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Jaune cried as they all ran out of the dome and looked to see the Nevermore making a return trip. They all turned to Jaune for further instruction. "Weiss, on me! Everyone else, Spread out!" He ordered. Weiss stayed at the ready in case of either scenario while the others went to the treeline. When the Nevermore began to turn it's attention to one of the others, Jaune sent off an energy slash at the bird. It missed, as he intended, and forced its attention back on him.

"That's right ugly, keep your attention on me." Jaune whispered to himself as the Nevermore made it's way to him. And lucky for him, it seemed to be going for a dive bomb.

"Everybody get ready! On my signal!" Jaune called out. He then stabbed his shield into the ground to prepare for the inevitable crash. And as the beast drew nearer, he held up his arm, ready to give the signal. It was starting to get pretty close now.

"Arc, Now?" Weiss asked, keeping her eyes on the Nevermore. He simply shook his head.

"Not yet."

The Grim was now starting to get dangerously close now.

"Now?!"

"Not. Yet."

It was now only a couple dozen yards away now.

"Now!?"

It was about to open it's maw when Jaune brought his arm down.

" **NOW!** " Jaune ordered. The response was instantaneous. Weiss stabbed her rapier into the ground and made Gravity Glyphs on the underside of the bird as it was about to try leveling out. As a result, It tripped over it's own two feet. With a resounding thud, the Nevermore landed face first into the ground. It was being dragged forward due to the already made momentum beforehand. Jaune braced himself by hiding behind his shield and pouring buckets of his own KI into this stance to try and act as the immovable object to the unstoppable force. Weiss also used her Glyphs to keep Jaune in one place as well. So when the Nevermore finally smashed into the Shield, Jaune had grunted and groaned, but he stayed put.

"Everyone, Now!" Jaune called as he dropped to a knee to try and recover. Everyone had rushed to the disorientated and injured Grim to try and do their parts. Yang and Nora were now holding down the Nevermore's wings while Blake and Rei were now slicing along it's wings and spine. Ruby was next as she and Pyrrha both took shots at it's eyes. In about two or three shots, both of it's eyes had been shot out and it began to thrash about. It even tried to get back into the sky again, but found that even trying to lift the two extremities was beyond painful. Rei and Blake had done their job. So everyone had gathered in front of a now recovered Jaune. They all waited for him to give the final command. He smirked at them before raising his sword.

"Let 'em have it!" He said, and they went to town. Yang delivered a series of shotgun enhanced punches while Nora was busy smashing it's legs, causing it to collapse completely. Pyrrha and Blake went to hack at it's vital spots. Rei decided to pelt it with bullets. Weiss used whatever was left of her Dust reserves to fire missiles at it. When the Nevermore was on it's last legs, Jaune looked to Ruby and nodded to her. She returned it with one of her own and they both charged in. He went left and she went right, flanking it from both sides. The others saw this and decided to let them finish it. So they all backed off. Jaune and Ruby, now on opposite sides of it's head, jumped with sword/scythe raised over their heads. And as if the Grim could sense them over it, craned it's neck to squawk one more time before the two came down...

And properly separated it's head from it's body.

It's corpse quickly started to dissipate as everyone started cheering. Jaune got up from his kneeling position and looked into Ruby's eyes. They smiled at each other before they both broke out into laughter.

They had just past the Initiation!

* * *

 **Yeah! That chapter was awesome! Don't even lie to me and tell me that i'm wrong. Cause i know it was. Anyway, let's move on to the next chapter! Woo!**

 **Just a quick side note. Does anybody find it weird that a lot of authors are usually stuck with bad luck? Either it be something like school, breakups, or in my case, an injured knee. Some food for thought. But anyways, See you in the next chapter. Toodles~!**


	6. The Teams That Will Shake The Universe

**Y'ello! It's Konshiro Crobrasha here. Sorry if this chapter is a bit short in comparison to any of the other chapters, but i think the last chapter more than makes up for it. But enough of this dilly dallying! Let's make the teams!**

* * *

Atop the cliff side was Ozpin himself being satisfied with what he saw. He almost didn't think that Jaune would be able to work with a group of people, but now that he thought about it, he really shouldn't be that surprised. He was an inborn tactician. Considering who his parents were...he was practically destined to be a leader. He was going to go far. That much was clear. And there was the fact that this year brought a good batch of potential Huntsmen. Every single one of them had their backstories. Each had their talents and reasons to be here. Some, wanted closure. Others wanted an escape. And there was one here just because they wanted to help people. But Jaune...

He wanted revenge.

That brought a small frown to his face. Jaune was only lured here so that he could further his pursuit to get at one of the Queen's pawns. He was quite adamant on the subject. But since meeting Ruby Rose, he noticed that Jaune has been acting less and less hostile. That Yang Xiao-Long though...Even he couldn't ignore the resemblances to the Arc Brawler. And he reasoned that the triggers Jaune was experiencing were justified. He didn't react much when the Deathstalker had come in to attack the students. Nor was he caught off guard when the Nevermore made an appearance. What had raised quite a few red flags however, was when Jaune had transferred some of that strange energy to Ruby. Not only that, but she seemed to be producing that same energy herself now. It was concerning to say the least. But when a few of the cameras placed around the area had picked up on the conversation between the two, he nearly called off the entire Initiation. If that power had the ability to transfer to other people like that...he could see why the Queen wanted him back so badly. The risks were a bit pricey, but if the payout was this grand...he had no doubt that the Queen would use every resource she had at her disposal. Another concern is that the drawback could also affect Ruby as well now. She was going to be one of the main driving forces against the Grim if she ever unlocked the power of her Silver Eyes. But if what Jaune said was true, then she would have even more power at her disposal as well. But he had no time to think on that now, he needed to send this footage to Newgate.

* * *

After the Hunters-to-be made it back to the cliff side, they realized that they would have to climb all the way up there. There was a collective groan from all of them at the revelation. As some of them were lightly complaining, Jaune looked at them and thought about something before nodding to himself.

"Hey, I got an idea." Jaune said, gaining to attention of everyone present. Weiss looked to him with an undertone of annoyance, but also a hint of curiosity.

"What is it Arc? Are you going to carry us all up there on your back?" Weiss asked sarcastically. When she heard nothing in return, she thought that she had shot down the idea before it could even take off. But not a moment afterward did Jaune begin to glow and float off the ground.

"Actually, Yeah. That's exactly what i had in mind." Jaune shot back, looking at her shocked expression with a smug grin. In fact, everyone was shocked at this. He could Fly!? Even Ruby was looking at him with eyes of wonder. If he could do that with KI...then she could do that too? Awesome!

"Whoa! fearless leader can do that? That's so cool!" Nora exclaimed, awestruck by the new information. Everyone else was surprised to silence. Jaune just rolled his eyes and actually enjoyed the feeling of being able to show people his power and...being okay with it. There was no more nagging in the back of his head telling him that he was in constant danger. He actually felt...normal for once. So as he landed on the ground, he gestured for them to get closer.

"Come on guys, grab on. i'll take us to the top in a jiffy." Jaune said. And Ruby was the first to attach herself to his back. He chuckled at her childish energy and turned to the rest of them. Nora was next in line to grab a hold of his left arm's sleeve. Rei took to the opposite side. Pyrrha came to his front and blushed heavily before wrapping her arms around his waist and holding tight. Jaune raised an eyebrow at that but thought nothing of it. Ruby however, was looking down at her with a suspicious glare. When he turned to the remaining three, they just shook their heads and gave a look that clearly said that they didn't want to be a part of any of that.

"We're good. So thanks, but no thanks." Yang said, still not liking the image of Ruby hugging his back in a little _too_ friendly way. Blake said nothing while taking a step back before she started to scale the cliff in front of them. Weiss scoffed before looking at the different people grabbing onto him and then the various weapons they had on them as well.

"Arc, are you sure you can carry all of them? I mean, you are trying to carry a good number of people. On top of that, some of their weapons are less than..." Weiss started, then turned her sights to Nora's Magnhild. "light." Weiss concluded. Jaune looked around him at all his 'passengers' before shrugging.

"Well, It's not all that heavy. I can lift, like, thirty of me without breaking a sweat! So this is practically nothing to me." Jaune boasted. Weiss gave him a deadpan expression before shaking her head and turning to the cliff side before studying her remaining Dust storage to see if she would be able to get up there. Jaune then addressed the people holding on to him and flared up his KI in preparation to carry them all to the top. "Everyone ready?" He asked, Ruby buried her neck into his shoulder even more while the others gave him either a nod, or sound of approval. He nodded to them and tensed his muscles before he gave them one last warning. "Hold on." And they blasted off.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Was all you could hear from them as their forms became smaller and smaller. Weiss had just about finished her calibrations before getting ready to use her Glyphs for the last time that day. Yang had started to walk up to her to see if she could hitch a ride too when Weiss beat her too it.

"No." Weiss said before she summoned a plethora of Glyphs and ran up the side of the cliff. Yang stood there for a moment.

Then another

.

..

...

Then another

.

..

...

Then another

.

..

...

Then ano-

"GOD DAMN IT!"

* * *

Meanwhile, with the rest of the group. Jaune had just landed and allowed the four people holding on to him for dear life to let go. Nora let go with a giddy smile on her face, Rei was a little shook but was otherwise alright, and Pyrrha-while slightly reluctant and with an even deeper blush-unattached herself from him and started walking towards the waiting Headmaster. Jaune noticed that Ruby still didn't let go of him and worried that she may have fallen asleep again.

"I'm not getting off. I'm tired." Ruby stated in a tired voice. He figured that today's events would be tiring for most people. Even he was feeling a bit worn out...but he was hungry even more so. That was the thing about having his stature. He had a higher than average metabolism. It wasn't too bad, but he could eat a good amount before feeling satisfied. But he relented and simply asked her for the relic.

"Oh yeah. Here." Ruby said numbly, reaching onto one of her many pockets and handing him the rook piece. He smiled to her before deciding to let her rest for a small while. It's been a long day. So as he made his way to the Headmaster, he noticed that the others already gave him their own relics. He also took note of Weiss' recent arrival as well.

"Heh. Never thought this would be a strong point in my life. Carrying someone to the objective while being surrounded by trained huntresses." Jaune mused to himself. He was only a few paces away from the Headmaster now and the man already had his eyes on him. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Jaune handed the piece to the older man. Ozpin gave him a small smile and gestured for them to follow. Jaune looked to his sides and noticed that the people around him were...actually pretty good friend material. But when he looked to see Ruby's sleeping face, a small blush was on his face as he looked away. It was almost criminal how cute she was. "This year is going to be...interesting. Very interesting indeed." Jaune thought out loud, not knowing that the Headmaster was thinking the sane thing.

* * *

Back with Yang, she had just gotten her arm over the cliff when she noticed that the rest of the group was already half way to the school. Her eyes widened as she scrambled to catch up to them.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

* * *

When she caught up to the rest of the group and everyone had a hearty meal, the Headmaster told them to rendezvous in the auditorium. There, they all got ready to see what team they were going to be a part of. And who their teammates would be for the rest of their time here at Beacon. The first few teams were announced, but the eight of them weren't really concerned with them. Well, except that Team CRDL. They just screamed trouble. But before they could ponder on it any longer, they heard their names start to be announced.

"Lie Rei, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao-Long. You four have collected the Black and Gold Knight pieces. From here on out, you four shall be part of Team...RWBY." The headmaster announced. Jaune and the others looked over to Ruby and raised an eyebrow. But Jaune thought of the reasoning easily enough.

"Well, if you really think about it, ruby _is_ a color. It's actually a fairly common color once you get right down to it. I think it's just a coincidence that you're also named Ruby. But imagine if you were on that team instead of Rei. Then the entire team would have been named after you!" Jaune laughed. And the others nodded at the logic as well as laughed at the idea of the team being named after her. But they silenced once the Headmaster spoke up once more.

"Lead by...Lie Rei." Ozpin finished. Rei's eyes widened in surprise. That was not what she was expecting. Not at all. Whatsoever...

The others were congratulating her with a round of applause. Weiss though...was less than happy. It wasn't that she couldn't believe that Rei could be an effective leader, it's just that she believed she would do a better job. But then Ozpin started announcing the next Team.

"Now, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose. For collecting the Black and Gold Rook pieces, you are now to be Team JNPR." The Headmaster called. The four of them walked up to the stage, ready to see what their team name was going to be and who was going to be their team leader. Jaune thought that Ruby was going to be the leader, considering that she was able to hold her own against the two Giant Grim along with the others was more than enough to make her Team Leader in his books...but of course, that's not what happened.

"Lead by Jaune Arc." The older gentleman announced, and everyone around him started cheering. He was taken aback. This was...it felt...great actually. He turned to the others and they each gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Ruby squealed and enveloped his arm in a big hug.

"Yay! I knew you would be the leader!" Ruby cried, cheering him on. Nora and Pyrrha walked up to him and gave him supporting words as well. Nora even gave him a pat on the back saying how he really was their 'Fearless Leader'. Pyrrha was giving him a bright smile that started to strain when she remembered that Ruby was still attached to his arm. Jaune's face slowly twisted into a bright smile before he burst out in laughter. He then brought them all in a big group hug. Nora and Ruby welcomed it with open arms while Pyrrha was blushing up a storm.

"Don't worry guys, I'll be the best darn leader you'll ever see! Just you watch!" Jaune claimed, a toothy smile in his face and continued to laugh. The others also joined in on the laughter and enjoyed the moment. Ozpin observed from his position at the front of the stage and smiled. It would seem that Jaune's recovery would go by a lot more smoothly than he anticipated.

Who know's, maybe he'll be like his father yet.

* * *

 **(Omake - The Shipping Company)**

While all the commotion was going on down on the stage, two certain individuals in another team were looking at the spectacle with mild amusement. Each of them had tanned skin and black hair. They could have been mistaken for twins, if it weren't for the three years apart in age. And they were both quick to correct anyone who thought otherwise They both had brown eyes, and were fairly tall. One was looking at the scene with much excitement while the other was almost disinterested. The younger of the two then spoke up from his spot among the crowd.

"I ship it." He said, getting the other to furrow his eyebrows and look to his brother.

"What?" He asked, not exactly knowing what the hell his younger brother was trying to say.

"Like. FedEx." The younger one said. The older one kept staring at him for a few moments before looking at the recently formed Team JNPR. His expression then turned to that of realization.

"Oh...which ones?" He asked, The younger one never took his eyes off of them, even as the four team members started walking off stage.

"Yes."

"Ah...even team RWB-"

" _Especially_ Team RWBY."

The older one looked at his younger sibling with a narrowed gaze.

"You're weird. You know that?"

"Hmm, maybe."

"..."

"..."

"Are you thinking what i'm thinking?" The younger one asked, looking at the older one who was now even more invested in the situation.

"Depends...what _are_ you thinking?" He asked. The younger one chuckled in a low voice before telling him his plan.

"I'm thinking of placing bets with who he get's with. You in?" The younger one offered, extending a hand to his older brother. The brother in question looked at him skeptically before shaking the offered hand.

"Alright, how about a starting bet of...fifty Lien." He offered. And the younger one nodded in agreement. They were going to leave it at that until another student came up to them.

"Actually, i think i'd want in on that bet." someone else offered, followed by several others that just so happened to be listening in. Eventually, almost the entire crowd wanted in on this betting pool.

The two brothers looked at all of them before looking at each other. The younger one then got an evil grin on his face.

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

* * *

 **And that is the end of the updates for this story...for now of course. I'll see you all in the next chapter of one of my stories. So until then, Toodles~!**


	7. Living Styles and Protective Sisters

**Disclaimer: RWBY was created by Monty Oum-may he forever live within our hearts-and is owned by RoosterTeeth. The Dragon Ball Series was created and is own by Akira Toriyama and is owned by Toei animation, Shueisha and Funimation. I in no way own these series...but if i did, I'd probably change a thing or two...**

 **Now my faithful readers that have been waiting for an update to this story since Christmas, here is your due. Not much else to say here. But know that what I do here is merely comedic relief from the semi-seriousness that is to come in the semi-distant future. This is going to be what a lot of people would consider the 'peaceful days' before the _really_ heavy stuff starts to pile up. But don't worry, that wont come until further down the line.**

* * *

As Jaune and his newly formed Team JNPR walked off stage, the rest of the crowd also started to exit the auditorium. Jaune looked to his new friends and smiled to himself. This was surprisingly nice. Having friends in general was nice. He looked ahead of them and thought about all the things that led up to this moment. All the pain, all the sadness and all the blood that he had to endure every day. It all seemed so distant now. But he brushed those thoughts aside and looked down to his partner that decided to have herself a piggy-back ride. She was tired, as she said earlier, and he said nothing of it. Nora had excused herself to go talk to her childhood friend for the time being. He said it was alright. He didn't know how the whole 'knowing each other since childhood' friend scenario worked, but he figured it was important. Besides, the only reason that he could withstand getting a migraine was because he had a gorgeous redhead to talk to...and Pyrrha was there too he supposed. Don't get him wrong, she's...beautiful in her own right. And the armor was most likely made for maneuverability and agility, that was a legitimate fighting style. But there was just something off about her. Like her mentality was somewhat altered. The energy she exuded made it seem like she was desperate for someone's approval. In fact, Her Aura almost looked like it was trying to force a connection between him and herself. It was akin to a magnet trying to attract the opposite energy to itself. But in this case, her energy was very similar to his in the sense that hers felt isolated and lonely. But the difference being that he obviously had a more intense isolationism than anyone else in this Academy. So instead of being attracted to her, he instead felt a bit pushed away. But shaking off that thought, he turned to the spartan in question and saw her already staring at him. What weirded him out a little though was the fact that she didn't even have the decency to look bashful or embarrassed that she had been caught starring.

"Yes Jaune? Did you need anything?" Pyrrha asked, looking at him with attentive eyes. He looked between her and the sleeping form of Ruby before looking back to her. His mouth twitched in a very small frown before swallowing the lump in his throat and speaking to her for the first time in a normal conversation.

"Um, well...I guess I would like to get to know you more since we're going to be a part of the same team and all..." Jaune trailed off, not really knowing where or how to converse with this girl. But, as luck would have it, She mistook it as nervousness...fantastic.

"Oh, that's fine. I'm actually interested in knowing more about you too, Jaune~." Pyrrha said, practically swooning over him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, not knowing what the _hell_ she's on, but he really wants nothing to do with it. What makes it worse is that she was kind of pressing herself against his arm. Of course, he could immediately tell what this girl was on about. Or, what she felt about him. But that was crazy. They literally only met like eight hours ago! Literally no one should have fallen that hard for someone they've met that same day.

.

..

...

What happened between him and Ruby is a different story. It's not definite that he feels that way about her, or that she feels the same for him...even though his heart is literally soul bound to her...or that his mind gets all flustered when he sees her...or when-

"Hm? Oh, are we almost to the dorms yet?" Ruby asked groggily as she looked from over Jaune's shoulders. It wasn't normal that she would wake up from a nap, but for some reason, she felt like something was trying to steal from her. Of course, the only things she had on her were her baby, which was still resting comfortably on the side of her hip, and the other thing was her secret stash of cookies that she always has on her...which was also still there. So what gives?

"Oh, hey Ruby, you enjoy your nap?" Jaune responded, happy that there was someone else to talk to instead of Pyrrha. She just made him feel uneasy. Thankfully, Pyrrha seemed to back off for now. Though that same strained smile came back from before. He ignored it in favor of talking to Ruby. That was quickly becoming one of his favorite past times...talking of course. The fact that he enjoys it the most when talking to Ruby is nothing but a coincidence.

"Well, It wasn't bad, I don't usually wake up this early on into it though." She said, resting her cheek on the blonde's shoulder. She wasn't really fully awake yet, so she doesn't even register that she was cuddling her partner like a stuffed teddy bear. Jaune payed it no mind. There are a lot of different things that have attached themselves to his back that were...what you'd call less than comfortable and more clawing, biting, and acidic. So this was a much needed rest from the usual dangers. He held a hand up to pat her on the head and chuckled before closing his eyes to sense where they needed to go. He already received the message on his own Scroll, along with a basic blueprint of the Academy memorized. He then opened his eyes once he set a rout to their new dorms. It was there that he realized two things.

Number one: He's going to be living in the same room as both Ruby-which he finds to be kind of weird since he liked to sleep alone otherwise he might accidentally assault her or one of his other teammates-and...Pyrrha. There's nothing wrong with her...okay that was fucking a lie, there was _definitely_ something wrong with that girl. And to be honest, he's kind of nervous that he might find her breathing over his form while he tried to sleep. Or that he might find some of his casual wear 'missing'. There was nothing that he really _wanted_ to hold against her, but she was kind of making it hard to do that. He figured that he would have to talk to her about that before it got...too out of hand.

"Mm, you know, I sure could use a nice hot shower right now. I think we all could. But if you wan to take one first, I wouldn't mind going in after you~." Pyrrha said, giving him a sort of stare that made him worry that when she said 'go in after you', she meant that she would go in _with_ him, which brought him to the second thing.

They would be sharing a single bathroom. Now this wouldn't be a problem in and of itself, but considering that Pyrrha was probably going to try an force her affections on him, she might do something...drastic. Like spying on him in the shower, or going into the shower with him, put cameras in the showers, or even come out of the shower in her birthday suit to get his attention. Of course, that was all just speculation. She'd probably not even do any of that.

Hopefully,

But back to the conversation, he cautiously answered her question as though the implications flew above his ridiculous height and acted oblivious.

"Oh no, by all means, go ahead you can take as long as you want. I'll just take a shower somewhere else..." Jaune said carefully, masking that he was going to cleanse himself in the locker rooms. No need to take any risks with her after all. But he first had to drop off his partner in the dorm. And boy did he want to get out of there as soon as possible...But that would mean leaving her with Pyrrha...alone.

' _yeah, that's not happening. I might be able to get Nora into the room if I asked.'_ Jaune thought to himself. But while he was looking ahead, Pyrrha was looking at his concentrated face with very misguided adoration.

 _'Oh, you handsome, oblivious fool of mine, you are so cute! I'm sure that you'll fall for me eventually, and when that happens, we'll be one big happy family.'_ Pyrrha thought in her severely twisted mindset. There was something to be said about her character. She has been put on a very high pedestal her whole life, and that tends to make someone feel isolated from her peers. She never really had friends, nor did she even entertain the idea of any potential romantic partners. All her life she's been denied of any sort of affection outside of her parents that, in all honestly, didn't really see her plight. They all thought that she was sound as a rock and happy with where she was. So as the years went by, she began to become more and more numb to things. It came to a point where she almost completely gave up. then _he_ came into the picture. It was something that she noticed when he was on the platforms before initiation. He looked directly at her, and she noticed that his eyes held none of the usual glow she'd see whenever somebody saw her. all she saw was an oblivious man that knew nothing about her. That's when something happened within her. Something that just clicked. That was the first ever person that had ever seen her, even heard her name, and knew nothing of her. It was refreshing. It was pleasant. It was **Addicting.**

It came in like a tidal wave. The emotions that flooded her senses almost made her gasp for air. After all these years, without any sort of real affection, she attached herself to someone that knew nothing about her and allowed her emotions to go unchecked when she thought about him. And the buildup had caused her attachment to be what would be called unhealthy. She wanted everything he was and she wanted it **bad**. His apparent 'nervousness' made him all that much more desirable. The only thing that was keeping herself from attaching to him was Ruby.

She seemed like a nice enough girl, though she was getting in the way of her and her prize. First she took his attention from her when she woke him up from his meditation, then she took her spot next to him, _then_ she had the audacity to steal him as her own partner. _That was supposes to be her._ She even tried to get his clothing caught on her spear that she threw at him. But just as he was going to be caught by it, He stayed in the apex of his fall and kept going when he was supposed to be falling. It was a phenomenon that she couldn't take her eyes off of. His energy...it didn't look like Aura, it looked like some thing similar to it, but she could tell it wasn't. And that attack from when he _obliterated_ that Deathstalker and everything else behind it was definitely not Aura. She'd have to ask him about it later. Or figure it out herself. After all, she was a very smart and capable girl.

She'll get what she want's. She always got what she wanted in the end.

* * *

Ignoring the chill that tried to run down his back, he just thought that it might have been Ruby moving while she tried to go back to sleep. They were nearing their dorm when they saw that Team RWBY was coming from the opposite side of the hall from them. He raised an eyebrow at that. Did they get lost, or were they...

Deciding to see whether or not his assumption was correct, he kept walking as their dorm came closer and closer. When the two teams were intercepting each other that they had exchanged questioning looks...well most of them did. Yang was glaring daggers at him, Weiss tried to pass by him without acknowledging him, Blake never stopped looking at him and Rei...actually, she was the only other one that wasn't his team that was giving him a questioning stare. He looked to the door that was his dorm and then to the one that Weiss was checking to see if it was theirs. So he was right. They had dorms right across from the other's. How...nice. Nora was with them too, talking up a storm to Rei while the girl herself was either a multitasking god for listening to her, looking to him, and also dealing with the rest of her team, or she was just ignoring the ginger while still asking him the silent question. He looked to his own door again before letting out a sigh.

"well, it would seem that our dorms are right across from each other. And we're neighbors now. For some reason, I think that Ozpin did this on purpose. Anyway, I'm sure we're all tired after today, so me and my team are just going to be resting for the rest of the day. Oh, and Nora, could you look after Ruby? I'm going out to shower before doing some training." Jaune asked, fishing out his key card from his pocket to open up the door and making sure that he didn't disturb the sleeping Ruby. And he figured that the glare from Yang was because he had her sister on his back. He thought nothing of it as he didn't really care either way. Nora looked to Rei, getting a nod from her before she happily complied and skipped her way into the room. Before he could go into the room as well however, he found his arm grabbed roughly.

He had more than half a mind to snap around and belch a KI powered fist into whoever's face it was and proceed to blast them into oblivion before he stopped himself. But just barely. So as he turned his head, he saw that the culprit was Yang herself with a heated expression. She gestured with her head that she wanted to talk to him outside. He slumped his shoulders a bit in a 'i'm-completely-done-with-this-shit' fashion. He looked to her lilac eyes that were flashing red every other second and nodded.

"Alright, let me just drop her off first. Then we'll do whatever it is you find so important." Jaune said in an annoyed tone. It wasn't that he personally wanted to be enemies with any of them, but with Blake's distrust, Weiss' history along with her family, and Yang's temper that disabled her ability to reason, they weren't exactly in his good graces. But if were to be given the opportunity to patch things up with them, then he'd gladly do so. Except for maybe Weiss. That was still up in the air as of now. But that aside, Yang nodded and waited in the hall as the rest of her team filed inside and Jaune went to go lay Ruby into a bed.

So as he went inside, he took in the appearance of the room. It was nice enough. Certainly better than what he's had to live in for the past...number of years. So he didn't really complain all that much. But one thing that he didn't like was that Pyrrha was waiting for him to pick a bed it seemed. And if he had to guess, she'd probably pick the one that was right next to his. So he did the only reasonable thing. He waited for Nora to pick one of the four beds that were there. Luckily, she took one of the middle beds. Seeing as how the beds were arranged to lined up to cross from one end of the room to the other, he placed Ruby next to Nora's bed and set his stuff next to that one, the one against the wall and furthest away from the door. And last but not least, furthest away from the last bed: Pyrrha's bed. The woman herself seemed to strain her 'cheerful' features a bit before going to lay on her new bed. He averted his eyes from her as she disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. Once the coast was clear, he looked down to the sleeping form of Ruby. Nora had busied herself with her headphones and was blind to the world, so he didn't have to deal with her for now. His attention now completely on Ruby, he made sure that she was tucked in and snug. Wouldn't want her being uncomfortable bow would he? He made a point on keeping her covered up as to make sure she didn't get a cold or something. He stayed there for a moment, admiring how adorable she looked like that. peaceful...

Shaking his head of the thought, he turned to leave before he felt another tug. This time on his hand. He turned to see that Ruby's hand had somehow untangled itself from the covers and clenched his hand in hers. He raised an eyebrow at that. Ignoring the heating in his cheeks or the small jump in his heart beat, he smiled and chalked it up to a sort of reflex. Reflex to what, he didn't know. But he took hold of her hand with his free one and untangled her fingers from his. rubbing the spot she held as there was a certain missing warmth, he turned and headed out the door, never noticing the small whimper from the reaper.

* * *

He slowly closed the door behind him and turned to see a stone faced Yang leaning against the wall. She said nothing as she started walking towards the stairs leading up to the roof. He started following her without a word, preparing himself for whatever she had to say or whatever she had planned for him as well. It's like he said before, he doesn't want to have any bad relations with her or the rest of Team RWBY, but as things were, he would have to make amends with each of them...somehow. And while he was sure that even if he was going to try and do that with Yang right now, he wouldn't do very much. But, that didn't mean he couldn't try.

So as they made their way to the roof, Jaune thought about what he was going to do for training. More strength exercises or meditating? KI control? Move training? So many things to train and almost an ungodly amount of free time on his hands. It was fine he supposed. Seeing as how he'd need the time to get stronger, he couldn't complain. It was likely that nobody here was nearly as strong as him, bar for maybe Yang, and that's only if he held back his power a considerable amount. Despite her rather soft looking arms, he could see the muscle that she had in them. And you know something? If things were different, then maybe he would consider her as girlfriend material. She looked great. Took good care of her hair, had a rather sizable chest, and her posterior really popped out of those biker shorts that she wore. But none of this would ever elicit a positive reaction from him as there was one thing that ruined any possibility of pursuing her in the romantic sense or looking at her in such a way either. And that would be that she looked identical to his deceased sister. That brought down the mood a bit. At least for him. While he figured that all the forced flashbacks were caused by Conscious, he still suffered from the trauma, obviously. It's just that without someone constantly stabbing at the wound, he could properly try to move on. But he wouldn't. Not until he's fulfilled his purpose. His purpose to kill Tyrian Callows.

There was nothing quite like the drive he had whenever he thought about that Scorpion Faunus. The amount of anger that it brought him knowing that he was still alive out there, carrying the blood of his family on his hands. And to him, there would be no greater pleasure than driving his sword through his chest, looking into those eyes as they filled with terror and then be emptied of life soon there after. Then and _**only**_ then will he allow himself to rest. So with that in mind, he decided that training his swordsmanship would be the best course of action. He was lacking in that department when compared to his KI abilities or his martial arts. He'd probably try to use a sword and shield combo before switching to two handed sword skills.

So with his mind made up, he came back to reality as they finally made it to the roof. He stayed a few feet in front of the now closed door, allowing Yang to walk ahead of him a bit before she turned around to face him. She looked like she wanted to just go off on him. To yell at him and to try and pummel him into the ground with her fists. But she took a deep breath and reigned herself in before looking at him again. He almost applauded her in her ability to do something so menial, but refrained from doing so. It wouldn't do to let his sarcastic side ruin what was obviously a big stride in her character development...but that didn't mean that he couldn't be sarcastic in his mind. Ignoring his urge to make a witty remark, he waited for her to speak. Briefly looking to the horizon as the sun was about ready to meet where the planet and heavens came together, he thought that this had been a long day and just wanted to get back to his training. So he hoped that she would get on with it.

"I...don't like you." Yang said a matter of fact-ly. a finger pointing up at nothing. He raised a brow-while noticing that he has been doing that a lot recently-and let out a soft hum.

"I kind of got that vibe after you exploded and tried to pummel me out in the forest." Jaune said, remembering when she showed a surprising amount of strength. Surprising for her of course. He's met worse. Bandits like Raven...actually, now that he thought about it, he realized that the two were really similar in the looks department. Especially in the face. Even their scowls looked similar. But with Raven's being more fierce, of course. Was it coincidence or was there something that the two had in common? IT was a mystery that he would have to look into later. But Yang scoffed at him before putting her hands at her hips.

"I mean that I don't like you being my little sister's partner. You seem so...rough around the edges that i'm afraid that you might do something to hurt her. And when you do, because I know for a fact that it will happen, you are going to die by my hand." Yang said, getting all up in his face and trying to look threatening even though he was at least a foot and a half taller than her. He crossed his arms and thought about it. He would come off as suspicious to others wouldn't he? the freakish height, his gruff exterior, and even the rather noticeable scar that was on his face. Normal Hunters-in-training didn't have scars. Their Aura prevented any of that. He's checked. Scars only ever stayed when they got the blemish before they had their Aura unlocked. So obviously, his appearance would cause people to draw to conclusions about his past. Though they would probably never come close to the truth, that was fine. The less they knew the better. And there was the fact that he had a near panic attack in front of everyone on the launching pads. That would also warrant some suspicion. And lastly was the amount of power he displayed in front of the two teams in the Emerald Forest. So he understood what she didn't trust about him. And it would take some real convincing to make her at the very least trust him as a partner to Ruby if nothing else. Simple logic probably wouldn't work. It would make him seem like an analytical prick that always relied on logic instead of his emotions. And while effective on the battlefield, would not benefit him here. There had to be something he could tell her that would convince her that he wouldn't hurt Ruby. And after a short moment, he found his answer. If he wanted to make the sister of Ruby Rose trust that he wouldn't hurt her, he would have to let her know that he knew the feeling of sibling protectiveness.

 _'Oh boy, that is going to haunt me when I go to sleep...eventually.'_ Jaune thought to himself as he let out a sigh. He looked into Yang's lilac eyes for a moment before looking down at the ground.

"I understand." Jaune started off, reeling in the emotions that wanted to surface. Yang narrowed her eyes, suspicious of this man.

"What do you mean? You...agree with me?" Yang questioned, wanting to see where he was going with this. Jaune sighed again before taking a deep breath.

"I understand why you want to protect your sister." Jaune said, now looking at the horizon again. The sun had now touched ground with the mountains in the distance. Yang had been caught a little off guard at that before becoming a little heated again.

"How would you know? You probably hurt anyone that tried to get close to you." Yang accused. And Jaune felt hurt that she was right. Anyone that has tried to know who he was, was promptly scared off. And anyone dumb enough to pursue were given a less than harmless boot to the face. But that wasn't what would have her trust him right now. He needed to tell her about how he understood the want to protect his family. Even though he's failed them when they needed them most.

"I know the feeling because I used to have sisters too Yang." Jaune said, still facing the horizon. The sun had sank a little more now. And Yang had been taken back again. He had sisters too? He certainly didn't act like a brother to her...

"Really? Pfft, how would they act if they knew how you've been acting this entire time then? I doubt their even real anyway." Yang said, not thinking that he was telling the truth.

Jaune looked to the ground again, thinking of how deep that cut. He knew that they wouldn't be proud, that's for sure. Yet he wanted to be a better person, he really did, but with everything that's happened, he's doubtful that it would happen any time soon. But he had to tell her about where they were now, even with the tears threatening to break free. So he lifted his head and stared directly into her eyes.

"They're dead Yang. They're dead because I failed as a brother to protect them. I couldn't save a single one of them. I live every day knowing that I couldn't do anything to save even one of 'em. I have to live with the fact that I'm the only survivor of my entire family. I am the last Arc to ever walk this planet. So yes Yang, I know how it feels to want to protect a loved one. Which is why I will do everything in my power to protect your sister. Because even if I failed my own family, I can at least know that I can protect someone else's." Jaune explained, looking deep into her own eyes, even as tears trailed down his face. She had been shocked senseless. His entire family, they all...

As Yang was trying to comprehend what he just told her, Jaune turned around and headed for the door. But before he walked inside, he turned his head in her direction and gave her a determined look.

"I will die protecting my partner if I have to. I want you to know that." Jaune said, finally leaving the blonde brawler on the roof. The sun had finally set after all. So as he walked down the stairs and wiped away the tears, he steeled himself for tonight.

It was time to train again.

* * *

 **Alright everybody, this is has been the next chapter of The Warriors Road. We saw a few things happen. Some of which was contrary to what I said about the whole, nothing would get too serious until much later. And I'm sorry about that. But I promise that these kinds of things will happen only a few more times. I just wanted him to make up with Yang since he _is_ partners with her sister. And the others will get their turn as well. I've already know when he'll make up with Blake and Weiss, so those are covered. Pyrrha...He's going to have to knock some sense into her eventually. For now though, she's going to be used as a sort of comic relief. The next ****Omake** **will probably be in the next chapter. And just so you know, every Omake in this story will most likely be a continuation of the one in the last chapter unless said otherwise. Anyway, that's all for now my devoted readers. Toodles~!**


	8. A Night To Themselves

**Yo dawg, It's Konshiro Crobrasha back with another chapter of...hold up, I need to see which one I'm updating real quick...Okay, so not To Create One's Path...not The Fall From Grace, I just updated that...and not In The Right Hands, so this must be The Warriors Road. Anyway, since i'm done shamelessly self plugging my other works, this is indeed another chapter of The Warriors Road. With that out of the way, I will say that I have done the Disclaimer bit enough times now. We all get it, I don't own RWBY or Dragon Ball. So go on and have your fix. Read this chapter and wait for the next chance at my goods.**

* * *

Jaune trudged his way to the locker room to find the rest of his equipment. He saw his locker and hesitated for a moment. On the other part of his locker door was the picture of his entire family. He sure that Conscious was the cause of his PTSD triggering so often as it did, but he still didn't doubt that the triggers would happen regardless, just that it would take more to make them a probable threat to his mental health is all. And a picture of those that he has failed would most definitely cause _something_ to happen. But he knew of something that might make everything a bit easier on him. A little something that he made himself out of a number of plants that he's found on his travels. It was quite healthy for him while also being calming. It was all conveniently rolled up into a small, rectangular block. All he had to do was heat up one end and inhale the fumes that it secretes...

Okay, so it was just a healthy version of a cigar, so what? It wasn't hurting anyone! It was healthy for him, and healthy for anyone that just so happened to inhale some of the smoke. But he didn't exactly have time between his ride to Beacon and now to really enjoy one of these.

So with a wary sigh, he took out the breathing stick, which he called a Virga Terra, or just Virga for short. He then brought up a single finger and used his KI to light the end of his stress relief. He took a deep breath in and let it do its thing. His mind felt a bit...better. Not necessarily _high_ like weed did to him...don't ask. It just, cleared his head. Almost as well as meditation did, but not quite. Taking a few puffs of this would let him do however he pleased, psychologically wise.

So with the new boost in his mental Psyche, he opened the locker door and saw the one and only picture that he has of his family resting peacefully against the metal shelf. It was worn. Had a small folding crease at the bottom right corner along with the edges seemingly almost burned. Yet it was nearly perfect in Jaune's eyes.. He could see a small him, maybe just turning five years old. He was smiling, laughing, being hugged by his twin and his next oldest sister. Bleu and Vert. He missed them. He missed all of them.

Bleu, Vert, Violet, Rouge, Orscintillant, Marron, Gris. They were all so dear to his heart. Each one with such drastic differences in character. They were all so talented at what they did, and with so much to to in their day to day lives. Yet they all made time just for him. Just for the small boy that had the foolish dream of becoming the one to protect them all.

His Mother, Oum bless her soul, was a kind woman. Noir Arc was someone that used to be so full of spirit and drive. He only vaguely remembers how he would snuggle into her arms and hug her. That was a kind of motherly love you couldn't find anywhere else. The females in his family were most of the essential parts that made the Arc clan, but one can not simply forget his father, Blanc Arc.

The man was passionate about what he did. Joked around most of the time as well. It's where Orscintillant got her sense of humor and pride. Blanc was the moral backbone that would often fill in on his mothers awkward speech patterns. Yeah, his mother was the socially awkward one of his family while his father was more of a relaxed kind of guy that went with the flow and did what he thought was right. He liked to think that he was a mix between the two. Though, he was socially awkward because he didn't interact with many people before. And he had the basis of a strong moral compass. The love he had for his family would never die out, he would hold on to them till the day he died. Because family is everything to him.

Wiping the tears that threatened to break free, he put the picture back in the locker where he got it and took another puff of the Virga. He let out a cloud of smoke before reaching for the capsules that made his training gear. He also grabbed his sword, Douleur, and his shield, Chagrin. Without pause, he connected the two pieces of his shield and placed it behind his back and on top of his sword. He thought about taking the rest of his armor, but decided against it. There was no need to go out into the city again. Maybe at another date, but not tonight.

He made his way over to the cliff side that he was thrown off of earlier today and looked out into the Emerald Forest. He surveyed the area and saw the trench that he caused with that 'Maximum Flasher' before. He almost felt the numbness that it gave him. He was fine now, but he thought that it was a risky move given that he had never exerted that much power before. It could have gone horribly wrong if it was any stronger. It could have even killed him. But something about seeing Ruby About to die set something off in his mind-no, his _soul_. Every single instinct in his being was commanding him to protect her.

He shrugged it off as just wanting to protect his partner. Ever since his family died, he's had some issues with himself as a 'hero'. So with Ruby being the first friend he's had in ages, it would be natural that he would want to protect that friend. But he's wasted enough time here. He needed to improve upon his sword technique. But looking up at the moon, he was reminded just how dysfunctional his life was. He had PTSD, hardly ever slept and when he did sleep, he'd have night terrors, and he relied on medication heavily. Damn if he didn't already hate his existence. He took one final puff of his Virga before taking it in hand and dropping it to his foot, stomping out the surprisingly hard stick. He only stopped for a moment before he stepped off the cliff and dropped down to the Forest below.

* * *

Ruby had awoken a little earlier, feeling a bit weird as she got up. It was as if something was...missing. She went through her usual wake up procedure of checking for her weapon...which was leaning against the nightstand, good. Her stash of cookies that she keeps under her stack of weapon magazines...check. And finally, that she isn't in one of those weird nightmares where you were in class in only your underwear...okay, that's fine as well, so what was the deal? She usually sleeps like a log. The only thing that could wake her up was when her sister tried anything funny, her little doggo nudging her in the middle of the night, or when something dangerous was happening.

With a quick check of the room, she noticed that Zwei wasn't licking at her feet or that Yang was anywhere near her with a bucket of water. That left her with the third option, but she was in Beacon for crying out loud! If anything dangerous were to happen, then there would have been an alarm or something. Surely she wasn't the only one that could sense anger when it was near. This was a school for Huntsmen and Huntresses in training after all. But she got up to inspect what could have been the cause. She needed to use the restroom anyway.

With her business done and her intrigue peaked, she started walking out of the dorms and looked around the courtyard. She saw nothing but darkness around her. The moon did jack for any lighting. Considering that it was...you know, broken. However, she was able to make out the orange glow of...what she assumed was a cigar. And remembering something about a man with a bowler hat and mascara, she grabbed her baby, which she always keeps on her person, and went to pursue. After all, if someone like that was able to knock her unconscious, then he must be a superly-duperly-mega criminal!

Proceeding with caution, she noticed that the figure was walking towards the cliff side that overlooked the Emerald Forest. She ducked behind different buildings and even some shrubbery, peaking over, around or even under some of her hiding places. How she was able to hide behind one of those light-posts was anyone's guess, but the figure never once stopped their stride. It was something that boosted her confidence in her stealth capabilities, even as she hid behind a small branch with some leaves.

Suddenly stopping at the edge of the cliff, the figure looked down for a few moments before looking up at the moon. It was at this moment that Ruby's eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting of the outside and recognized the face of her own partner, Jaune Arc!

"What is he doing out here...WAIT! HE SMOKES!?" Ruby exclaimed to herself before clamping her mouth shut. Looking to see that Jaune seemed to be too focused on what he was thinking about to really hear her. She filed the fact that he was using one of those cancer sticks away for later before deciding to actually walk up to him and see what he was doing here. It's not like he would just-and he jumped off the cliff.

"Huh."

.

..

...

"HUH!?" Ruby exclaimed again, eyes nearly bulging out of her skull with how the sight of her partner just up and throwing himself off the cliff. She quickly floored it and rushed off the side of the large structure as well, bringing out her weapon to use the same landing strategy she used at Initiation after she caught up with Jaune. From there, she would yell at him for doing such a thing in the first place before forcing him to promise never to do that again and then forgive him. But as she was plummeting downwards, she realized two things.

One: That he could fly. As he stopped himself mid fall and started moving around freely.

And two...

 ***Click* *Click***

Crescent Rose was out of ammo.

 _'Oh yeah, I used it all when we were fighting the Nevermore and Deathstalker.'_

.

..

...

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs as she held on to her weapon dearly.

* * *

Jaune was nearing the ground and was going to drop himself off before he hear an all to familiar voice call out from above him.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

That was Ruby!

So with a flourish, he rocketed himself upwards again and saw that Ruby was currently flailing around in the air holding her weapon. He didn't question it as he honed in on the Reaper. In a matter of seconds, Ruby was in his arms as he slowly stopped their decent. Don't want to accidentally give her whiplash...or a broken neck. So as he descended to the ground below, he noticed that Ruby was holding on to her weapon in one hand and a fistful his GI in the other. He was relieved that she wasn't harmed at all through that fall.

Jaune's feet had finally touched the dirt when Ruby cracked open one of her silver eyes and saw that Jaune was holding her in a bridal carry. She slightly blushed at the predicament, but said nothing of it. Jaune had waited for her to try and get off of him, or for her to signal him to put her down...and she wasn't really doing anything. He looked down to see her bright and silver eyes staring into his. He was almost caught off guard by it. By how...beautiful they were. He hadn't seen eyes like hers in his life. They seemed to be filled to the brim with hope and determination.

* * *

For Ruby, when she stared at Jaune's face, she felt her heart skip a beat or two. The moon seemed to shine particularly bright upon his face as the wind that his KI generated fluttered his hair to the side, giving him a rather romantic appearance.

 _As the moon shone brightly upon this hardened warriors face, the hands of the wind combed through his head of beautiful golden locks, softer than silk. His eyes have seen many battles with the forces of evil. His bitter stare melting away when looking at his partner, layed in his strong arms. As the maiden reached up to touch upon his rough skin, she traced the lone scar that adorned his sharp facial features. The blemish alone proving to anyone that he has fought tooth and nail for the good of man kind. His facial hair prickly, yet nearly addicting to touch. All that was here, were this fierce, battle hardened warrior, and his maiden as she slowly brought her face to reward her hero with a true loves ki-_

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Jaune asked with a deadpan expression.

It was then that Ruby's...'fantasy' was broken and opened her yes to see Jaune was scanning her facial features with a confused look adorning his face. She had her hand on his cheek and her lips still puckered for that 'true loves kiss'. Her eyes looked left to right as if she were oblivious to her own actions.

"What?" She questioned, her lips still puckered. Jaune was not believing any of this act and asked her again.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he started to put her down. But to his confusion, Ruby refused to be put down. Instead, she placed her arms around his neck and dangled from his body. At this point, he was not only asking as to what she was trying to do earlier, but what the actual _hell_ she was doing now. He tried to take her off his body, but as he was going to pry her off his body, she then started to...climb him like a jungle gym!?

"What the hell?! Ruby, what are you doing?! Get off!" Jaune said, reaching behind his back to try and take her off of the 'piggy-back express' as she called it. Ruby simply shook her head and tightened her grip on his body with both her arms and her legs while pressing her face against his back. This went on for a few seconds before Ruby blurted her answer out for him. Though admittedly, she had to recompose herself for what she tried to do and was currently doing.

"I don't have my slippers with me okay!?" She exclaimed, making Jaune stop and scrunch up his eyebrows in confusion. She didn't wear take her slippers with her?

"...That doesn't explain why you followed me and decided to just jump off a cliff. You could have killed yourself!" Jaune chastised. He expected Ruby to feel ashamed of doing such a thing and apologize...she didn't.

"But you saved me! And I'm A.O.K now. Besides, you jumped off the cliff too! What's your excuse?" Ruby challenged. Jaune answered back while still trying to get her off his back.

"Ruby, I can fly, you cant. Now get off...actually, no. Stay. I'm going to fly you back up, get you back in bed, and go train." Jaune said, readying his knees for lift off. But Ruby caught on to the ploy quick enough and promptly let go, landing on the grassy plains with a small thud. Jaune sighed and turned and round of face her, finally realizing that she was only wearing her pajamas. Consisting of a black tank-top and some sweat pants with her Rose symbol printed all over it. She also had her sleeping mask on above her forehead. He was going to say something before a cold wind blew through that caused Ruby to shiver.

With another sigh, he rummaged through his capsules, making Ruby look at them in confusion.

"Jaune? What are those?" She asked, seeing the various colored his hand. Jaune answered when he found what he was looking for.

"These are capsules. Storage devices used to carry heavy items you wouldn't otherwise be able to carry. For example, a personal mode of transportation. Obviously too heavy to carry on your own. But with the capsule feature built into it, a single push of a button and it poofs into a small, easy to store capsule. It can even be used for clothing, like this jacket." Jaune explained, holding up a purple capsule and pushing the top button before tossing it towards Ruby. She was going to try and catch it before it suddenly let out a puff of smoke and revealed a rather large sweater. It landed on her face before she pulled it back. It was simple enough. A rather poofy looking hoodie that when inspected, seemed to be made of a soft and cozy cloth. She looked to Jaune again before he continued.

"Wear it. If you're going to be this stubborn in following me, you might as well stay. It is pretty cold out here. And another thing," Jaune said, turning around and walking away before tossing back another capsule. Ruby stepped back, not knowing what might pop out of this one. Another poof revealed them to be a pair of sandals. "Can't have you walking around barefoot. They're adjustable, just pull on the straps. Now come on, I'm going to train." Jaune finished, making his way deeper into the forest. Ruby looked at his back as he left before looking down to the sweater that he gave her. She pulled it over her head and put it on before realizing that it nearly reached her feet and that her arms weren't nearly long enough to fit through the arm holes. She looked like a child wearing over sized clothes. Yet, as she took a deep breath of the cloth, she sighed in content. She may have been kept away from things like romance and boys because her uncle and Yang thought that she was 'too young and innocent', but after she found one of her uncle's books, Ninjas of Love she believed, she kind of learned what they were trying to keep from her.

She had to do her own research after that. Learning what the birds and the bees were. What a crush was. What love looked like. All things she saw in her own parents. She didn't really bring it up until now because she was still focused on being a Huntress. But with Jaune...she felt her heart race when thinking about him. She could smell him on the sweater. Or, at least faintly. She didn't know what it was about him that enamored her. Maybe it was his smile, his stunning eyes, his laugh, or maybe even his determination in what he does, but she could feel the warmth that he gave her. And the fact that he was an actual hero helped too.

She would have continued her thoughts on him, but she heard his voice again, coming from within the treeline.

"I'd hurry up if I were you! This place is full of Grim, and I don't think your weapon has any ammo in it! So you better get hustling." Jaune called out, breaking Ruby out of her trance and causing her to let out an 'eep'.

She quickly adjusted the sandals to her feet before using her Semblance to catch up to him.

"Wait for me!"

* * *

They walked in mostly silence, only really talking to each other when Ruby asked where they were going. He only responded by telling her that they were going to go training. She pouted at the answer. She hated it when people twist her own words around. It made her feel dumb. She had a B average in school dang it! don't treat her like she needed a tutor! But after a few more minutes, Ruby asked about something that she saw him with earlier.

"Hey Jaune...why do you smoke?" Ruby asked, not really liking the fact. She never was a fan of those that smoked cigars, cigarettes, or even...ugh, _vapes_. Bleh. So she needed to hear the reasoning from someone that did it first hand. Jaune looked back to her and raised an eyebrow. What was she talking about?

"What? What are you talking about?" Jaune asked, genuinely confused by the question. Unless she was talking about the...oh.

"You know, the thing you were smoking earlier. You know those things are bad for you, right? They cause lung cancer, destroy the lungs all together, cause addiction and all kinds of other bad things. They cause your skin to deteriorate Jaune!" Ruby scolded him. She waved an arm at him, but with the over sized sweater she was wearing, she just looked adorable. Jaune chuckled at her before turning his head back to the front.

"That wasn't what you thought it was Ruby." Jaune answered. Fully understanding why she might have thought he was using a regular cigar. They would have looked very similar in the darkness of the night. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another one of his Virga and showed it to Ruby. She was looking at it in confusion. It didn't look all that different from a regular cigar. It kind of looked like one of those that the criminal used.

"These, are of my own creation. I call them Virga Terras. They consist of various herbs and plants. They're very healthy for you if you inhale the smoke that comes off them. Yes, they work similarly to your common cigarette or cigar, but they are much more beneficial than their cancerous counterparts. The only downside they used to have was the fact that they used to taste like earwax. But, with some adjustments and an addition of another herb, they taste like...how do I describe it? They taste like a mix of cherry and what flowers smell like." Jaune explained, twirling the stick in his hand. Ruby was caught off guard for a moment. That was suspiciously great for what was essentially a super medicine. In fact, It sounded _too_ good to be true.

"I'm not going to lie Jaune, That sounds too far fetched to be true. I mean come on, if you were able to make it, then why hasn't this kind of thing been done before and why haven't any pharmaceutical places started selling them. They sound like they'd sell like hot cakes." Ruby questioned. And Jaune had to admit, she wasn't wrong. If they were to be sold publicly, they'd be bought by damn near everyone. But there was one thing about it. One thing that made that nearly impossible.

"While that may be true. They'd be hard pressed to find the right ingredients. Considering that about half of them can only be found out deep in the Grimlands." Jaune said, turning to go around a rather large tree. He was met face to face with a Beowulf as it seemed to be surprised by his presence. While Jaune just raised an eyebrow before sighing and tensing his muscles. In the blink of an eye, the Grim just disappeared with the displacement of space. The grass was displaced around them and caused Ruby to consider what might have happened before dismissing it as just her imagination. She was much more interested as to finding out what he meant by getting the ingredients from deep in the Grimlands...in fact, she wanted to know exactly where he came from. He did promise. So now would be the best to figure it out, right?

"The Grimlands huh? That...would make things a bit hard huh? But how did you get that stuff then? Is it why you have that scar over your face?" Ruby asked, trying to ease the subject in. Her father had a few scars on him. He said that those were from his younger years. He explained that you could only get scars when before you get Aura or when it runs out. But that was a rare occurrence since that would require someone to have their Aura depleted for a long period of time as the scar tissue can settle. And since that would require serious effort, that option was out of the picture. So it was the first one in this case. That was...not any better in her books. But still, it was just one scar right? It's not like he had any more.

Jaune reached up to his face to run his hand along the scar that was on his face. It was this scar that he would look at in a mirror or other reflective surface. It stared back at him whenever he trained, whenever he fought or did anything. But don't get him wrong. It wasn't something that discouraged him. If anything, it made him feel proud. It was something that showed his grit. That showed his mettle. That showed his determination. If Ruby wanted to know how he got this scar, then he'll gladly tell her and who gave it to him.

"Actually, no. I got this one while fending off a Bandit Leader. It was one hell of a fight, i'll tell you that." Jaune explained, his hand reaching back and rubbing the back of his head, slightly grazing over the one of the scars on his back. It was one of his most recent scars. Going from his right shoulder to his left hip. It was mirrored by another one that instead went from his left shoulder to his right hip. It was given to him by this one Pyromaniac. Along with her was a green haired shrew and an edgy grey half-cyborg. He was able to tell that the green haired one could create illusions. It was how the fiery bitch was able to get behind him and give him these scars. She tried pressing her advantage by impaling him, but with the cat out of the bag and knowing that his eyes would be lying to him, stopped relying on his sight and instead used his other senses to guide him. From there, it was a piece of cake. He practically bitch slapped the pyro-hoe, smashed the green haired harlot's head into the ground like an ostrich and made the grey haired one piss himself with a **Big Bang** attack. They were lucky enough to have caught him after he exhausted himself with training. Or perhaps, they were counting on that when they attacked. Either way, they were able to escape since he nearly collapsed and needed to tend to his injury. The same could be said about Raven actually. After he beat her on their first battle, he was going to finish her off since she knew of his power, but she used her damned portals to get away. He kept seeing her after that. Nearly every time her tribe was involved in raiding a village, she was there. Possibly to try and defeat him to try and gain back the title of 'The Strongest'. But he really wouldn't care for the title. The strangest thing though. She would let out these really strange noises when he was able to land a hit on her. And when he defeated her and he was standing over her in victory, she would let out a sort of loud shriek before quivering profusely. It always confused him. But then she would crawl away in one of her portals to fight him another day. But that was all past him now. And he still needed to answer Ruby's question. It was rude to make a lady wait after all. And Ruby seemed to agree with him since she asked him another question.

"Oh, I'm sorry that you had to go through that. But you came out okay in the end, right? I mean, you're still here aren't you? I'm sure that one of your parents were able to save you. Or maybe even another Hunter. I'm sure that during a Bandit raid that a child wouldn't be left alone." Ruby said innocently as they entered an open field. It had just dawned on her how long they had been walking. And when she looked back, Beacon was a distant sight that she could barely see. She wondered briefly how long they were going to be out here before she walked into the still form of Jaune. She looked up to see that he had his head down and his back still to her. She wondered what was wrong when he spoke, seemingly a bit of a shake in his voice.

"...Ruby, I got this scar only a few years ago." Jaune said, telling her of when he got it while still feeling affected by the mention of his parents. He wished that he had parents that would do that for him. Heck, he just wished that he had parents in general. What happened on that day was by sheer chance. It could have happened to anyone in the entire world, yet it happened to him. True, many others were abducted from their homes and used for the same experiment. Yet he was the only one that was able to survive and escape. Whether or not he was a chosen child or a prodigy will be up for debate, but he feels as though the results could not have gone any other way. His existence has been made to be the product of an organization out to make a genetically modified super weapon that has the potential to destroy mountains on their own. But as he turned around to see the awed face of Ruby, he can't help but think that maybe...just maybe. Things will start to change for the better.

"Just a few years ago? Wow! You mean you were able to fight them on your own? That's so cool! I'm surprised that you weren't on the news then! 'Local Hero Saves Lives'!" Ruby exclaimed, giggling after her over-the-top news anchor voice. Jaune chuckled a bit as well. Ruby seemed to be the type of person to assume the best of things. He could appreciate that. As one might tell, he's not exactly the jolliest of people to be around. But you should try having your very existence be a crime against humanity. IT gets to you when you have nobody to talk to for years. Only listening to the small voice in your head...Now that he thought about it, he sounded like a crazy person doesn't he?

"Yeah...It wasn't exactly a public thing. I was defending a village out on the edge of Anima. Nice enough people, very open to Faunus and Human relationships, so that was cool. Then the Bandits came in, tried to raid the town. Operative word being _tried._ I was able to hold them off with the help of the town guard. But then the Bandit Leader came out of nowhere and nearly gutted me like a fish." Jaune started, taking off his gear and setting up his training circle. He'd do this to train himself for fighting in a small space. After all, when fighting Grim, one can be easily overwhelmed. So when that does happen, he can know what to do instead of being caught unawares and succumb to the darkness of death...but in lighter news, Ruby seemed to be enthralled in the story.

"What happened when you fought them off? You were able to save all those people, they must have been super thankful to you-" Before Ruby could continue, Jaune spoke up from his place in the middle of the circle, wishing to move on from the subject before he had to reveal what actually happened to the people of the village.

"I left before anyone knew what happened. Didn't feel like hanging around. My job was done and I felt as if I had overstayed my welcome as it was." Jaune said as he checked that everything was in order. There was a definitive circle for him to train, his training equipment was layed out for him, and all he needed to do was take off his GI to give himself the maximum flexibility.

"That's pretty noble, Jaune. You're like a mysterious hero that vanishes once he's saved the day. Leaving everyone to wonder who their hero was and where he is now. You know Jaune, your one of the coolest super heroes that I've ever...heard...of..." Ruby started, praising Jaune for his heroism before slurring her speech once she saw that he was taking off the upper portion of his GI. In her mind, it went almost in slow-motion. The way he reached down to grip at the article of clothing and just how _sensual_ he seemed to lift it up.

 _His rippling muscles flexed as he proceeded to undress himself. Those powerful arms of his gripping the cloth that blocked the view of his well toned body from the rest of the world. He dragged it up slowly. It was nearly torture how he seemed to tease her. Each inch of skin that was revealed was packed with toned muscle. Being the perfect balance of large muscles and toned, sharp edges. He is the epitome of physical fitness in the form of this tall, blonde and battle-hardened warrior. His shirt halfway off, the maiden can fully see the scarred and sculpted abs that could only belong to a god of physique. the hardness of muscle showing as they tensed, slightly curling inwards as he took off his shirt. As the piece of clothing fully came off his body, his hair came into view with a flourish. The shirt being tossed away, forgotten in this moment. His hands digging into his hair, fully showcasing his entire upper-body in it's entirety. He opened his eyes, staring directly into her own. The maidens breath catching in her throat as she could feel the heat of his stare. The adoration he held for her. The beating in her heart only being matched by the heat that traveled to her-_

"Thanks Ruby, that means a lot to me. I see where you're looking, and don't worry, these scars have been there for a long time. They don't really bother me all that much anymore. Here, you can come and see them up close of you want. You can even touch them if you wish. I can see how worried you are from looking at them. So this is my way of saying that it's alright." Jaune offered, not knowing the rather...raunchy implications that his invitation could have sounded to others...Jaune is not exactly adept when it comes to the whole romance department, or even when something is rather lewd. Constantly training and traveling everywhere can do that to a person. Of course, he can tell when someone is trying to come on to him, but any comment that he makes will go right over his head. That, and if another person is being 'subtle' about any affection that they have for him will be completely ignored by him, whether he knows it or not. But either way, as soon as the words left his mouth, Ruby was in front of him in a heart beat. Her face practically at the exact height of his abs. It was then that she really noticed the height difference between the two. He was practically twice her height! But further from that, another thought went through her mind as she stared at the rock hard muscles in front of her.

"You could grind meat on those." Ruby whispered to herself as she reached a hand up to touch them. She was hesitant for a moment, looking up to Jaune as if looking for some form of consent. He simply smiled and nodded to her. She then looked back down at his midsection and let her hand land on his skin. It would seem that the muscle was just as hard as it looked. his gut didn't budge in the least, as if showcasing that there was little to no body fat on him. As she traced her hands across his skin, she could feel the rough texture of the various scars that littered his body. Some looked older than others, and others looked like they were still healing. One of the older ones looked like something had impaled him. She payed special attention to this one, though, she could see that there were two others like this. Jaune took notice of it and let out a low chuckle, the vibrations running along his body and causing Ruby to look up at him once more.

"I see you're interested in the one that was caused by an Ancient Grim. Mind you, it wasn't a common one like the Deathstalker, or the Nevermore. No, this one was caused by something called the Cockatrice. It's kind of looks like a dragon, but is less powerful than one...I think. I haven't really fought a dragon before, so I wouldn't really know for sure. It had a birds head and a dragons body. And while that may sound a bit ridiculous, I can assure you it is no push over. It nearly killed me when It impaled me with one of it's talons where you see that scar. It was going to try and bite my head off when I was able to kill it with a single blow." Jaune boasted, feeling like how he's heard various Hunters felt when he heard them in the village bar.

Ruby was entranced by the tale, finding that this Cockatrice was very dangerous if it was able to almost kill Jaune like that. She looked down at the scar again, seeing how wide it was and how deep it seemed to go. But she smiled at the fact that he was here now. That he was here with her. So she went along with it and asked him a question.

"That's so cool Jaune! Did you hit it with a **Big Bang**? A **Maximum Flasher**? Another cool beam of energy that you have?" Ruby asked, making Jaune appreciate that she had remembered what he used in Initiation. Though he was surprised that she heard the **Big Bang** attack. Must have faintly heard him when she was running past him and out of the cave. But he still appreciated it all the same.

"No Ruby, I didn't. I just punched it's head right off. But it's nice to know that my attack names are accepted by someone. I kind of thought that they might be a little childish, but I've gotten into the habit of calling them out when I use them. So now I don't even try to stop, but instead, I try to make new ones and name them as well. Jaune explained, shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant way. Ruby giggled at the explanation before looking back down at the scars. As her eyes scanned each one of them, a thought occurred to her. If he got all these scars throughout his life, then where was his family through all of this. You'd think that after the first scar they'd unlock his Aura for him. To make sure that he didn't get another one, right? So...

"Jaune? Do you have Aura?" She asked suddenly after a few moments of comfortable silence. Jaune was taken by surprise at the question. where did that...oh right, the scars. That would start to raise some questions as to what happened to his Aura to get these in the first place, or even if he had Aura at all. And as stated before, he didn't have any. In all honesty, he didn't even want to become a Hunter when he was a child. Sure, he heard of the heroes in his family and what great things they had done for the world, but he just wanted to have a normal life with his parents and sisters. Get a job when he was old enough, maybe move to Vale where he'd heard of all the success from. And he'd eventually settle down somewhere. Get the rest of his family to move as well. He also thought about training to try and protect his family should the need arise, but that came a bit too late, as one might imagine. He looked strait ahead for a few moments before answering her in a low voice.

"No Ruby. I don't have Aura." He said, almost blankly. His parents were going to unlock his Aura when his Eighth birthday came around, but before he turned six...Tyrian and his group took that plan and flipped it on it's side. He heard a small hum from Ruby before she spoke up again.

"...Why didn't your parents unlock it for you. Did they not..." Ruby trailed on, not being able to come up with any reasonable excuse as to why they might have refused to unlock it for him. Another thought that entered her head was that his parents didn't exactly...like him. It would explain why he froze up earlier when she brought it up to him. And then there was when he said that he lost someone close to him as well...wait, did his parents...

"Ruby...my parents loved me with all their hearts. I couldn't have asked for any better ones. They cared for me alongside my seven sisters. We were one big happy family." Jaune started, turning from her and walking a bit farther out. He looked from left to right to see if there were any Grim nearby. He only sensed a few, but he could tell that they were starting to be drawn to the negative emotions that he was emitting from thinking about his late family. Ruby was slightly surprised at the seven sisters part, but was quickly brought out of it when she caught on to the 'were' part of that sentence. That alone painted a grim picture. If what he was saying was true, then that would mean that his entire family...

"They're gone, aren't they?" Ruby asked, taking a step towards him. He stayed still, not willing to look back at her. He already had tears in his eyes. He missed them so much, it hurt sometimes. This empty feeling in his chest never left him alone. No matter how much he trained, no matter how much he tried to busy himself with fighting or traveling, it was always there. He felt that the only way to make that feeling go away was to kill the man that killed his family. To kill Tyrian Callows. As his body was tensing, trying to keep his emotions in check, he felt something behind him. It made his eyes widen.

"It's okay. I know what it's like to lose. And while I can't imagine what it must be like to lose everyone, I want you to know that you're not alone. As your partner, and more importantly, as your **_Friend_** , I want you to know that I'll be there for you. Always." Ruby said as she hugged him from behind. Jaune was shocked for a few moments before his eyelids lowered and he turned around to fully embrace the small reaper. She kept her arms around him and hugged him as tight as she could. He hugged her back gently as he let his tears flow freely. The empty feeling in his chest lifting ever so slightly.

Within his Soul, the chunk of Silver glowed faintly alongside the rest of his. His Soul changing to a slightly brighter shade of gold. It was barely noticeable, but it was there.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, saying nothing as he let his tears out silently. Afterwards, Jaune felt as though he used up enough time in self wallowing and broke off from the hug. He wiped away his tears with his left arm and looked into Ruby's eyes with a fond expression dawning his features. She smiled back tenderly, feeling closer to him than she felt for anyone else. Maybe even closer than she felt with Yang. But she would say that this was a different case than her relationship with her cousin. It's only been so long and she already felt as though Jaune was the most important guy in her life. She didn't feel as confused as one might expect her to be about her feelings. She knew that she had a crush on him. And a major one at that. But from what she's learned of the man, she knew that he needed his time. He needed to adjust to being around people. So she would respect his space, and just stay as his friend for now. And when he seems stable enough, or when she's able to help him through the process, she'll tell him how she feels about him. But until then, she'll help him in any way she can.

"Thank you Ruby, I don't know what I'd do If I rejected Ozpin's offer to come here. I'm glad that I got to meet you. Now you can go sit over there..." Jaune started, suddenly pulling Ruby into his arms and into his form before he backhanded a Beowulf that had tried to take them by surprise. part of it's head had been blown off by the amount of force behind the attack and started to turn into smoke and ash. "While I train for a bit. I'll lend you my sleeping bag if you want to sleep. I'll stay up to keep watch. I promise that I wont let any Grim lay a hand on you while you're asleep. And an Arc never goes back on his word." Jaune promised as he looked down to see Ruby with a beat red face. She nodded absently before she walked over to where Jaune had dropped most of his stuff. Jaune wasn't too far behind, thinking that he should get her what she might need now rather than later. He took a pouch that he often carried with him and scrounged around before he scooped out a hand full of capsules. They truly were a miracle of science. He looked at them before he took one and pressed a button at the top of the capsule. He dropped it on the ground where a rather large bed roll came out. He then turned to Ruby and handed her the other capsules in his hand.

"These capsules hold different snacks that I've made. This one holds granola bars, this one has some vitamin Gummies-though, I just made them for my own personal pleasure-, and this last one has some triple chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies." Jaune said before he saw Ruby practically teleport the cookie capsule into her hand. He raised an eyebrow at that before handing her the other ones. He then pointed to the duffel bag on the floor. "There's water in there. Not much else unless you like the taste of murky green tea, that's all I got, sorry." Jaune said as he reached for his Sword and Shield. Meanwhile, Ruby had already released the cookies from their confinement and was now holding a brown paper bag and reaching in to grab one of the divine treats. She marveled at how they still seemed to be warm before shrugging it off and taking the first bite. afterwards, she had a blank stare before looking at Jaune with the same face.

"I love you."

"What was that Ruby?" Jaune asked, looking back at Ruby as she suddenly registered what it was that she just said. Her eyes shot open before she stammered about trying to hide her blushing face.

"N-nothing! I was just talking to myself. But thank you Jaune. These are really good." Ruby said, taking another bite of the heavenly treat. Jaune chuckled, absentmindedly swinging his sword in slow but calculated swings. He wanted to start off slow for now. Warm up before he started actual training.

"No problem. I made them myself. Had a lot of time to myself these past few years. So I was able to pick up a thing or two." Jaune said, moving methodically from one point to another. His movements precise and with purpose. There was not a single movement of muscle that he didn't mean. And he meant what he said to Ruby. He's picked up one or two hobbies in his time. He did it to mostly cope, but he did enjoy baking, cooking, meditating, and surprisingly, cleaning. He'd say training, but at this point, it was less a hobby and more of a lifestyle. But he enjoyed the fact that someone liked his baking skills.

* * *

As the night went on, Jaune gradually increased the intensity of his sword training. He started off with some simple and basic combo swings before he eventually started adding some of his weights. Every once in a while he'd have to take care of Grim, but with the two big honchos out of the picture, none of the other Grim felt the courage to really attack anymore. Ruby kept watching him train with a keen eye. At some point in the night, she found herself within the bedroll. She then took a look at herself and where exactly she was. Wearing his sweater, and inside where he would normally sleep. At the thought, she blushed heavily, but couldn't stop the big smile that creeped onto her face. She dug herself deep into the roll and snuggled herself into the sweater before taking a deep breath of the cloth. She didn't worry about any of the grim out there, because Jaune was here. He wouldn't let them harm her. And he did promise to keep her safe. So with complete confidence, she snuggled up in the cloth and closed her eyes to get some sleep. Pretending that the sweater was Jaune wrapping his arms around her, snuggling up along with her. Her dreams would be filled with him for many nights to come.

* * *

Jaune was just about done with his training when he saw the sun about to break over the horizon. He was panting like a dog and was sweating like no ones business. He had the same eighty tons strapped to his body from the night before. He took notice that they were starting to become bearable to carry now as he took them off and dropped them with a loud thud and crack of the dirt.

 _'I'm going to have to start putting on more then.'_ He thought to himself. He made some real good progress in his swordsmanship. And as customary for him after he trained with weights, he did some of the same sword combos without anything hindering his movement. With delight, he moved at near blinding speeds. striking imaginary targets at record speeds and blocking imaginary attacks with stunning proficiency. He really did love his sword and shield. They were only second to his martial arts though. There was no opponent that was able to defeat him when he used that. Now he wasn't one to brag or anything, in fact, he still believes that he has much to improve on. But if he were to fight any of the other students here with it, he would definitely win. Without a doubt. Now if they had a gun? He could move faster than any bullet could. Dust? Again, before they could even use the stuff, he'd be able to run to them and knock their lights out before they knew what was coming to them. Needless to say, he was confident in his abilities.

As he was practicing his sword skills, he heard a feint groan behind him. He looked back to see Ruby sitting up from the sleeping bag. Her hair was a mess and the sweater she was wearing was disheveled. Her arms were completely covered by his sweater as she rubbed her left eye while her other one was looking around as if forgetting where she was.

She was beautiful.

Shaking the thought away along with the heat in his cheeks, he made his way over to her, sword and shield in hand and a smile on his face.

Ruby was still trying to wake up when she saw Jaune coming towards her. She smiled warmly at him and sighed dreamily. She may or may not still believe she's dreaming.

"Hey there Jaune-y~." Ruby cooed. Jaune raised an eyebrow at that, but thought nothing of it. It was probably just how she was in the mornings he supposed. Whenever he went to sleep, no matter how rarely that was, he wouldn't utter a _damn_ word until he got either a cup of hot tea or a mug of black coffee in his system. Either way, he still needed to get both himself and Ruby back to Beacon before anyone got worried. So as he was packing up his things and turning them back into capsules, he heard Ruby call to him again.

"Jaune~, come over and get back into bed with me so we can cuddle~." Ruby offered to him. Jaune was just about done when he froze in his tracks and looked back at her. Did she just...

"Ruby? Are you feeling alright?" Jaune asked, putting the capsules away into a pouch. He was still shirtless and needed to put his weighted GI on, and that article of clothing was still on the ground somewhere. But Ruby concerned him even more when she posed in what would be a very provocative way. And the fact that the sweater had become slightly undone and slid off her shoulder, revealing a bare shoulder. The strap to her undershirt must have come off too...and he just realized that she wasn't wearing a bra. Lovely.

"Of course I'm feeling alright, Darling-kun~." Ruby said, causing all kinds of red flags to go off in Jaune's head. But, for the sake of not embarrassing the both of them, he decided that going along with it would be for the best...for now.

"Alright then...come on, we have to get going, otherwise we'll be late for class." Jaune said, walking over to his GI and reaching for it. Unlucky for him, it just so happened to be near where Ruby was laying. So as he bent down to reach for it, Ruby took his hand and nuzzled her face into it.

"Oh, my Darling-kun is so nice~. You make my heart melt." She said, still rubbing her face on his palm. Jaune meanwhile, was internally screaming with both how cute she was, and how embarrassed he was at th same time. But with a sigh, he took his other hand and wrapped it under her before starting to pick her up. She lightly squealed like a school girl before rearranging herself to be held in a bridal carry. Jaune sighed again before shifting her into one arm as he went around to pick up everything else. Ruby was having a blast feeling him up. From his chest, his neck and even his jawline. He was bewildered how she could act like this. The only explanation for it would be that she thought she was still dreaming. And on that note, **why** would she be acting like this in a dream!? His face was as flat as could be for a tomato as he finished up cleaning and picked up his bag, ready to fly back to Beacon with his strange partner.

 _'Well, at least she isn't as forward as Pyrrha, Oum forbid. I at least have that.'_ Jaune thought as he double checked if he had everything. It was then that Ruby decided to push Jaune's patience by speaking again.

"My Darling-kun is so strong~. It makes me want to feel how you'd ravish me by forcing your _big, meaty, pulsing, vein covered co_ -"

"And we're off!" Jaune exclaimed as they flew into the sky and towards the castle like structure that is Beacon. The wind blowing past his face and, thankfully, blocking out anything that Ruby might have said. Now Jaune wasn't sweating from his training, or even from how nervous he was around Ruby, It was actually something completely different. Something that he is not exactly comfortable with admitting out loud.

 _'Holy shit that was fucking HOT!"_

* * *

 **This was a nice change in pace from last chapter don't you think? Some comedy here, some serious bonding there, and some...rather juicy bits there. It's all good. Anyway, much love to you all, see you in the next chapter of...To Create Ones Path probably. So with that, I'll see you all later. Toodles~!**


	9. The Morning After

**Hi everyone. It's me, Konshiro Crobrasha, with another chapter of The Warriors Road. Last chapter ended with a bit of...sauce. And this will take place the day after and delve into their first day as students of the illustrious Beacon Academy! So without further ado, lets Rock!**

* * *

Not long after Jaune started flying towards the school did he find Ruby asleep again. He was grateful for the kind gesture form the heavens above. He didn't know what he was going to do if she kept up with the blatant flirting and... _temptation._ Besides, it would have been pretty awkward if she stayed awake and realized that she wasn't dreaming. But aside from that, he just wanted a chance to take an actual shower for once. KI was wonderful. It really was. But It never felt as satisfying as a real, _physical_ shower. Do you have any idea how long it's been since he bathed in clean water? ANY IDEA!?

.

..

...

Ahem...

He landed at the front door to his dorm and headed inside. He didn't have to worry about not making any noise to bother the students there because of the soundproof walls. He's not entirely sure why that feature was added to the rooms, but he really wasn't going to question it. As he used his ambidextrous fingers to unlock the door to his room, he made sure to see if Pyrrha was still up for some reason. As bad as Ruby apparently was, he was afraid that Pyrrha wouldn't stop at just words.

When he looked into the room, he noticed that, yes, Pyrrha was asleep, but she was sleeping on _his_ bed...in what seemed to be nothing but her birthday suit. If his hands weren't busy, he'd pinch the bridge of his nose. So instead, he moved to Ruby's bed and settled the girl herself onto it. He placed the rest of his things down next to it as well, not really wanting to go anywhere near Pyrrha. If he knew anything about warriors, it was that they were ready for anything. So if she was really dedicated to getting his attention, and he knew she did, then she would be up the moment that he tried to get her off his bed. He wanted no part of that mess. Which begged the question as to where he was going to sleep...

"Wait. I'm going to take a shower. What am I thinking about? Heh. _sleeping_. I don't have time for that." Jaune whispered to himself as he put his GI back on and headed for the door. The thought of having a shower was too tempting to let go. And there was nothing that was going to stop hi-

 _*Ding*_

Jaune stopped as he looked at his pant leg, knowing that the Scroll he was given had just received a message. What he was more worried about though was the groaning he heard from across the room.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha yawned, sitting up and looking around, trying to see if her man had walked in so she could present herself for him. But instead of seeing him, all she saw was an empty room. Though, she could have sworn that she heard the click of the door. It was fine she supposed. Jaune was just more mysterious and secretive than she initially thought. That was good though. It made things much more interesting. She'd get him. Sooner or later. She'd get him.

* * *

As Jaune let out a sigh of relief, he took out his Scroll and looked to see what Ozpin had sent him.

 _"You are going to help Professor Port with his class today"_

Jaune raised his eyebrow at it before putting the device away. He could do that. It was only Grim Studies, right? He knew a thing or two about Grim. Maybe he could help some others not be a burden and teach them actual skills.

He had finally made it to the locker rooms and undressed himself to take a shower. He bought soap, body wash, shower gel, shampoo, the whole shebang. just for this. So as he turned on the hot water, he instantly let out a groan of satisfaction.

 _'Classes don't start until a few hours from now. I can stay here for a while.'_ Jaune thought as he just enjoyed himself. He earned this.

* * *

As Jaune walked to the cafeteria with his hair still a bit moist, he struggled to get comfortable in the uniform that was provided to him. It was the largest size they had apparently. but it felt like the skin tight blue leotard that he tried on once. It was suffocating in more ways than one...but aside from that, the fabric felt like it was going to tear any minute now.

"I swear, Ozpin had something to do with this. I'd rather not have to wear the uniform in the first place, but Ozpin said that it was mandatory." Jaune said as he adjusted his tie. The darn thing was chaffing his neck. Worse than that, his shirt buttons were nearly bursting! How was he supposed to get through the day like this!

He didn't really think about much else as he walked into the cafeteria and received his breakfast. While not really necessary for him, as he makes his own food specified for his own diet, he just thought that it wouldn't hurt to get some more calories for today. He vaguely saw that his team was sitting at a table and went over to sit with them. But his main focus was to try and get comfortable in his own damn uniform!

"Hey there Jaune~." A voice cooed next to him. Jaune immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at who he had sat next to. In his negligence to his surroundings to try and keep his clothes from either suffocating him or exploding off his body, he had just sat down next to a person with a set of red hair. He _thought_ that he had sat next to Ruby, but...

"Hey there...Pyrrha was it? It's...nice to see you again." He said with a forced fondness. He felt really uncomfortable around this girl. She was just so...clingy.

"I didn't see you in the room today. Where were you? I don't remember seeing you in your bed." Pyrrha said in an all too sweet tone. Jaune winced at her, both because of how he found her in _his_ bed and because she was trying to meld her body with his right now. So with a gentle gesture, he pushed her body away from his. He cleared his throat, going to answer her before Ruby did it for her...unfortunately.

"Oh! Me and Jaune sneaked out to the Emerald Forest and spent our time touching each other before I fell asleep in his clothes." Ruby said in a cheery voice. Jaune's eyes nearly popped out of his eyes while his jaw hit the floor. Everyone else at the table also looked at her as if they couldn't believe what she just said. What made it worse however, was what she said next.

"Though, I did most of the touching. He was just so _big_ and _strong_ and _hard_." Ruby said 'innocently', trying to describe how his muscles felt. Inadvertently causing everyone to copy how Jaune looked before. Bur for Jaune himself, he nearly had a heart attack. Why did she word it like that!?

"Arc. Explain."

Coincidentally, Jaune had also neglected the fact that Team RWBY was also there. He turned his eyes to the blonde brawler of the group and then back to Ruby before settling back to Yang again. His mouth opened and closed over and over again, imitating that of a fish. Yang was not one to wait so she instantly rose up and cocked back a fist to punch the man, causing him to raise his arms. But in doing so, he accidentally caused one of the buttons to his shirt to rocket off and hit her square on the forehead, instantly knocking her out and causing her to fall backwards and onto the floor. Jaune looked left to right, as if trying to confirm that it actually happened.

"Huh. Neat." Jaune whispered to himself before he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to Pyrrha who had a very dark and strained face.

"Please, Jaune. _**Explain**_." Pyrrha demanded and tried to apply pressure to his shoulder but found that his muscle would not budge an inch. Jaune was going to explain himself anyway and simply let out a sigh. Why did Ruby have to put it that way?

"Well. First off. I did not do what many of you may think I did. All I did was let her tag along with me as I went out to train. I took off my GI, and she wanted to inspect my scars so I let her. She fell asleep in my camping bag as I stayed up and trained while making sure she didn't get hurt." Jaune said, taking Pyrrha's hand off his shoulder with relative ease. Both Rei and Nora seemed to be appeased by this, but he could not say the same for anyone else. Especially Pyrrha. Meanwhile, Ruby was just enjoying her breakfast, completely oblivious to the world. She did have a fantastic dream after all...

"Jaune, would you mind If I took a look at your scars? I feel as teammates, we should know everything about each other and hold nothing from the other." Pyrrha said, trying to lean into Jaune again, but at that very moment, Jaune's Scroll went off and he immediately took the opportunity to get up from his seat and see what it was.

When he checked, it was Ozpin telling him to head towards Port's class as he needed some heavy lifting done. Jaune didn't rally mind it, seeing as how it would allow him to excuse himself from the scene.

"Oh, sorry guys. I need to go. My assistance is needed in a Teacher's class. Duty calls I guess." Jaune said quickly as he dashed off to his next destination. Pyrrha was left smirking, thinking that Jaune was just playing hard to get.

Rei shook her head not really feeling like dealing with that drama this early in the morning. Nora was...well, Nora was being Nora. Ruby was enjoying her day, oblivious to the world. Weiss was busy trying to wake up Yang so that they wouldn't be lat to class, while Blake was looking at where Jaune had gone, being suspicious as to where he _really_ went off to.

* * *

As Jaune lifted the large cage over his shoulder, he turned to his Grim Studies Professor and raised an eyebrow.

"Sir, why do you have a captured Grim?" Jaune asked as he carried the caged creature from the Bullhead to the classroom. If he wasn't mistaken, then he would guess that there was a Boarbatusk in there.

The older gentleman chuckled to himself before puffing out his chest.

"Ah, you see my boy, the best way to learn about Grim is through real combat experience!" Port said, carrying another cage, but the one he had was larger and looked like the Grim inside it had nearly broken out. Jaune eyed it wearily. Why, or rather _how_ had he been able to capture an Alpha Beringal?

"Huh. Alright, I can see where you're coming from that, but why do you have an Alpha Beringal too? Are the Freshman going to fight that as well?" Jaune asked, which made the professor laugh.

"Oh heavens no! This creature is much too dangerous for any Freshman to take on. This fellow is for my Senior class. Good eye by the way. Not many children your age know what a Beringal is." Port said with praise. He along with the rest of the staff were informed of Jaune's situation and were told that he had extensive knowledge in fighting and identifying Grim. With knowledge like that, Port just had to test out his skills. But the blonde boy didn't know that yet. A real battle happens when one doesn't expect it.

"In my travels...I had to face a number of Grim." Jaune said, not willing to give any further details. As much as he enjoyed destroying the creatures of Grim, the connotations of what that meant also followed. After all, Grim usually follow wherever death goes...

"I see. So you too are a man of action then? Excellent! I can already tell you'll be one of my finest students yet." Port said before the two of them walked the rest of the way in silence. When they were done, a bell rang, signifying the start of class. And wouldn't you know it? Grim Studies was the first class of the day.

* * *

"Good morning everyone! I am your Grim Studies Professor, Peter Port!" The man stated, introducing himself. the rest of the class was not all that interested in either tiredness or just plain boredom. Either way, those people aren't even important enough to get a proper character model. The real focus are the two teams sitting next to each other.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Rei asked her fellow Team leader. Thankfully, Rei seemed to be one of the only people right now that were willing to freely talk to him. Everyone else either didn't trust him or just outright hated him. Jaune himself just shifted in his seat again, trying to get comfortable in the contraption that they called a uniform. After Yang had woke up and Rei told her what happened, she had calmed down considerably. She still didn't trust Jaune, but after their little talk on the roof, she would give him another chance. So far, he wasn't doing all that bad. He at least wasn't being the total edge-lord that she expected him to be,

"This clothing is so constricting." Jaune said in a hushed tone. He never had to worry about his GI becoming to small to fit. They were custom fit and tailored for his build. So to have a factory made, generic uniform that was made for a general body build was torture for him. Rei smiled at him before patting him o the shoulder.

"Well, I'm sure that they weren't expecting to have someone of your...size, enroll." Rei said, looking at just how tall he was. She wasn't even aware that they made people in his size! He was absolutely massive! She was sure that the clothing would give any minute now. If the button flying off this morning was any indication.

"Yeah, that makes sense I guess. It's why I have my GI tailored specifically for me." Jaune said, slouching as to keep the uniform as loose as possible. Rei nodded to him and was going to talk to him a bit more before their Professor spoke up.

"A true Hunter must be vigilant! They must be cunning! And they must be prepared for anything!" Port announced, pacing back and fourth. He then stopped in the middle of the room, in front of his desk, turning to the class.

"Which is why I will be picking a volunteer to demonstrate for everyone here today!" The professor said, making one certain Heiress shoot her hand up.

"Sir, I would like to volunteer!" Weiss said, wanting to show everyone here why she was supposed to be the best here...or, one of the best here. She was certain that no one would be able to even match Pyrrha let alone beat her. She certainly thought that the Arc wasn't fit to be here. Talk to her like that will he!? She'd show him his place.

"Sorry Miss Schnee, but for this demonstration, I shall have Mister Arc demonstrate for me." Port said, drawing the attention to the tall blonde. Weiss looked surprised for the briefest moments before a disgruntled mood fell upon her. Him? Why him!? What he did in the forest was nothing but a fluke! She was sure that someone would have to come in and assist him when he inevitably failed in this stupidly easy task.

Jaune perked up at the mention of his name, looking to the _Portly_ professor...ha, ain't that original? But either way, Jaune heard that he was supposed to help with a demonstration and immediately saw the opportunity to get out of his uniform. After all, if the cage he brought in was any indication, he'd have to fight the Boarbatusk.

"Sir, can I change out of my uniform for this?" Jaune asked, not noticing the cold glare that Weiss was giving him. Port chuckled before shaking his head.

"I'm afraid not my boy. One must be ready to fight Grim on a moment's notice! Even if they are in their pajama's!" He proclaimed, making Jaune deflate a bit. Not only did he have to bear with this stupid uniform, but he also had to fight in it too? This just wasn't his day today, was it?

"Fine." Jaune said while getting up to head on over to the front of the class. He turned to see the rest of his team giving him supportive looks.

"Go get'em Fearless Leader!" Nora said energetically. He smiled at her, feeling like living with her wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

"We'll be cheering for you." Ruby said sweetly. A bit of heat rose to his face at that. He swears, she is a danger to his health.

"Do you're best Jaune. I'll reward you if you win~." Pyrrha...she made his blush turn into a grimace. She was just so uncomfortable for him to be around.

But aside from that, Rei simply nodded to him in support. He appreciated that. He really did. He's have to get to know her better when he got the chance.

"Now Arc, are you ready?" Port asked as Jaune had made his way to the front of the class. Jaune's face twitched in irritation as he tried to figure out how he was going to fight in his clothes.

"Would you wait until I was if I said no?" Jaune asked, already knowing how this would go down. Along with the fact that he figured out what he was going to do about the Boarbatusk.

"No." Port said as he brought his battleaxe down onto the lock of the cage and freeing the creature. There was a moment of silence before a screech was heard from within the containment unit. Out came the average looking Boarbatusk.

"Now let's see what you'll do about the Grim without any of your combat gear." The professor said, twirling his mustache. Jaune ignored him as his focus was on the Grim alone. He saw the hate in it's ayes and the unfocused anger that came with how young it was. This tiny thing did not hold a candle to the sheer terror that some of the other Grim that he's fought brought to him. Those had eyes that held intelligence. _Actual_ intelligence. So facing this thing did not worry him in the slightest.

As the Grim growled, it suddenly rolled up into a ball and started spinning at a rapid pace, giving tell of what it was going to do. Jaune didn't flinch, not even noticing what his partner was trying to tell him as he readied his arm for what he was going to do. It was subtle. So subtle, that all but the professor himself had missed it. The older man had smiled to himself, seeing that the young man knew how to make his movements hidden and keep them from being telegraphed. Though, It did dampen his mood a bit when he realized that the reason he might know how to do it in the first place was because he was forced to learn. He always thought that each student should learn to do it, but they shouldn't need to learn it this early.

The Grim had finished charging it's attack and started rolling towards the tall man at a fast pace. Jaune still didn't budge, keeping his eyes on the opponent, getting ready to finish this fight in a flash.

"What is he doing? Is he not going to try to dodge? What is he thinking?" Nora said out loud. Looking incredulously at her Fearless Leader. He was supposed to be Fearless, not Reckless! That was her thing! She turned to Pyrrha, who looked like she was in Lala Land as he scribbled drawings of her and Jaune together in her notebook. That was something that Nora had picked up on pretty early on. Pyrrha had some kind of weird affection for Jaune even when It was clear that Jaune wasn't into her. If anything, he was more inclined to Ruby than her. But still, speaking of Ruby, when she looked to the small reaper, she saw that the younger woman looked calm. Not even batting an eye at the apparent blunder that was going to happen. It was like she knew something that the rest of them didn't.

"It looks like your leader is so fear-stricken that he can't even move. It just goes to show that what happened in the forest was a fluke and nothing else." Weiss said from behind them, not bothering to see what was obviously going to be a disaster as she filed her nails. A Heiress had to look her best after all.

Though, Ruby didn't look dissuaded. She still looked on confidently as the Boarbatusk was in front of her partner.

"Don't worry about that, Weiss. I'm sure that he's much more capable than you would like to believe." Ruby said simply. Weiss just scoffed at the notion. As if. That boy was no more capable than a child with a sword too large to carry. Though, the sudden movement from Jaune had caught her attention.

As the Boarbatusk had nearly hit it's intended target, Jaune had brought his right hand up and stopped it in it's entirety. It stopped spinning, it stopped moving. It just stopped. Everyone in the room was a bit surprised. But due to his stature and the way that his uniform hugged his muscles, they weren't all that surprised. What came next however, did stun a few of them.

"Disperse." Jaune whispered quietly as he lifted the Grim off the ground and to eye level. He discreetly poured some of his KI into the creature, knowing that the already dangerous effects of the substance was doubled for the soulless demon. In a moment, the Boarbatusk started to dissipate. He could do this with anyone really. Just overload their Souls with enough KI and they would be incinerated by the overload of power. It's another reason why he always wanted to keep this power a secret. I was still too dangerous.

"Bravo lad! You overloaded the Grim with Aura! I'm impressed. You must have an exceptionally large Aura pool to have done that." The professor complimented. Jaune simply nodded before the bell rang, dismissing the class for their next subject.

"Class dismissed. And I hope all of you can take a thing or two from Mister Arc's demonstration! Keep your guard up at all times!" Port instructed as the students filed out of the room.

Jaune sighed, still trying to adjust his tie. He was starting feel _really_ tempted to just rip it off entirely. But, for the sake of not embarrassing his partner and team, he wouldn't...for now anyways.

As he walked towards his desk to get his things, Ruby came up next to him with his bag in hand before giving it to him. He smiled at her and nodded in appreciation. But that mood was ruined when Pyrrha came into the picture...again.

"Hey Jaune~. I think I owe you a reward for doing so well today." Pyrrha cooed, trying to tempt Jaune into accepting his 'reward'. She even closed her eyes and puckered her lips to 'congratulate' him before getting up onto her tip toes. But all of a sudden Jaune was reminded of the lack of circulation to his head because of his neck tie.

"Not now. I have a headache." Jaune said, rubbing his temples and walking away. Ruby was still by his side trying to see what she could do.

"Do you want to go to the nurses office? A cup of water maybe?" Ruby offered as the two walked away with Nora not all that far behind, leaving Pyrrha stuck there. She looked at his back as he walked away, trying to figure out why he didn't accept her affection. There was _obviously **nothing**_ wrong with her, so what gives? Whatever, she'd get him eventually. And the Goddess of Victory always gets her prize.

* * *

Moving on to History Class, Jaune found that Oobleck was an interesting fellow. He was as fast as a bullet and talked even faster than that. The class wasn't boring to say the least. He was still struggling with his headache, but it wasn't anything worse than what he's had in the past. With this prof-...Doctor, he was very passionate about history and how humanity could improve from it. He often referred to the phrase 'if one does not study it, they are doomed to repeat it'. Which he fully agreed with. The fact that Oobleck wasn't afraid to tackle and debate on what would otherwise be 'sensitive' or 'touchy' subjects had certainly earned his respect. As unorthodox as he was, this was a man that knew what he was doing without a doubt.

"Does anyone know what gave the Faunus the advantage when they were ambushed in the middle of the night? Anyone?" Oobleck asked as they were discussing the subject of the Faunus War for Civil Rights. A shame really. Jaune had no idea why people were prejudiced against Faunus. They were just people. If anything, they would be handing anyone's ass back to them if they weren't outnumbered three to one. But as history has shown, humans are afraid of what they don't understand. Luckily, Jaune was well versed in Remnant History. Mostly because even he knows that knowledge is what can decide a live or die situation. It can even help when creating a new identity!...if that were to ever be a problem for you that is...

As Jaune thought about this, Blake had raised her hand to answer the question.

"Yes, Miss Belladonna." Oobleck called upon the monochrome woman. She stated her answer from her seat, but still showing some amount of interest in the subject.

"They were at an advantage because of their superior eyesight and natural night vision." Blake said, receiving a nod from the Doctor.

"That is correct! Does anyone know why else the army of Faunus would have had an advantage over the General's forces during the ambush?" Oobleck asked the class again. This time, It was Cardin that answered.

"Because It's easier to train an animal than a person." He said with a cruel smirk. He high-fived the rest of his team, feeling justified in his blatant racism. Most of the class were angered by this. Though a select few had agreed with him.

It disgusted Jaune to no degree.

As he saw it, Faunus had the potential to be better warriors than any human would dream of being. Normally, he's smack his shit in and maybe knock some sense into him, but he knew that it wasn't needed here, though...

Oobleck shook his head, disappointed in the behavior of his students. How could he act like this when there were other Faunus in this very room? Had he no shame?

"Mister Winchester, I'm disappointed. Where have you come from to think such things about your fellow comrades? Might I remind you that you might find yourself fighting alongside Faunus. If you keep this up, you might find yourself with an enemy-" Oobleck started to lecture, until Jaune interrupted.

"On both sides. Any person that is going to go out of their way to speak less of someone simply because they have extra body parts that would make them a better ally to themselves and their cause, just so that they could make up for their insecurities is no ally of mine. That person had better watch their backs. Who knows when a sudden...accident may occur." Jaune said, throwing a cold glare towards Cardin. The brute himself just snarled and got up from his seat, wanting to challenge him for what he said.

"Do you want to go, Arc?!" Cardin challenged, trying to make his way to the KI user. Jaune just sighed and shook his head, seeing no point in entertaining the idea. If Cardin wanted to fight him, then he'd have to either wait for combat class, or when he was anywhere close to his level. As Cardin's team tried to hold him back, Oobleck cleared his throat to garner their attention once more.

"That is enough. Mister Winchester, you will stay after class for an extra reading assignment. As for you Mister Arc, I am giving you a warning. Though you make a valid point, I will not allow you to disrupt my class. Is that understood?" The doctor asked, looking dead serious at the blonde man. Jaune nodded to him, knowing that what he did was partially wrong, and that he wouldn't take it back, he still showed the green haired man the respect that he deserves.

"Of course, sir. I will refrain from doing so again." Jaune said, promising that he would try to not do it again, but also leaving some leeway for himself. Because If he was going to be going to class with that douche bag every day, he can't guaranty that he wasn't going to knock someone's teeth out. And as he said this, the bell for the next class rung.

"See that you do." Oobleck said, turning his attention from the tall fighter and to Cardin, who was grumbling as he walked towards the History teacher. Jaune just gathered his things and tuned out the rest of his team. Not because he wanted to be rude or anything, but because their next class was one that he really looked forward to.

It was Combat Class baby!

* * *

As the students were piling in, most looked excited, some looked nervous while others looked absolutely terrified. But Jaune understood if only slightly. Sometimes fighting other people was intimidating. Especially if you had no idea what your opponent was capable of. Though, Jaune was ready for anything, he could not say the same for most of the other people here.

So with a pep in his step, Jaune strode to a seat right up front with the action. His team followed suit, not really getting why he would want to be so close to the arena, seeing as he usually wanted to stay in the back of every other class, but if he wanted to stay there for this class, then who were they to judge? Either way, Jaune seemed to be excited for this class, and his teammates would be lying if they said they didn't want to see how he fought. They saw a glimpse of it during Initiation, but they wanted to know what it was to the furthest extent so that they could maybe work around it when they were out on missions...or in Pyrrha's case, so she could see what her future husband could do.

As soon as their professor arrived though, she made sure that any daydreaming or conversations were put to a halt with a whip of her ridding crop.

"Students. Settle down." She demanded with a cold tone. Everyone headed her warning and sat up strait, not wanting to earn this woman's ire. If they had heard anything about the Headmistress, it was how disciplinary she was. Though, to Jaune, he just couldn't take her seriously. Who in their sane mind would use a riding crop as a weapon? Let that sink in. _A **Riding CROP. **_She could have used anything else. A wand. A Staff. Anything. But she chose to use a riding crop. If he didn't know any better, he would say that she had a secondary use for that riding crop of hers...

.

..

...

But in any case, he just wanted to get to the fighting, so he kept quiet for now.

"Today you will be chosen at random to spar with your fellow classmates. As you do so I will critique each of you on how you can improve your fighting styles. Now do we have any volunteers?" She asked, looking upon the class, seeing if anyone was eager enough to get a head start on their fighting skills. So far, only one person had raised their hands. And it was Cardin Winchester.

"I would like to fight." The Winchester exclaimed, standing up and started walking to the arena. Goodwitch had heard via E-mail that Winchester was a trouble maker. But either way, she would try her best to train him...this was going to be a long school year, she just knew it.

Some might ask why Jaune hadn't raised his hand first, and normally, they would be justified in their question, _but_...

"This thing is infuriating!" Jaune whispered, trying to adjust his uniform again, writhing in his seat and squirming. The rest of his team were trying to help him in some way. But his uniform had apparently had enough for the day, as there was a small tear under the right arm. Jaune had raised his hand to see what the tear looked like. Though, Goodwitch had taken this as an eagerness to participate.

"Mister Arc, I see you would like to spar." She said, making him look to her and then back to the tear in his uniform. He sighed before just rolling with it. Maybe now he can change out of his uniform...after he asked how much a replacement cost.

"Uh, yeah. But first, how much is it to replace the uniform. I seem to have...ruined this one." Jaune stated, showing the tear. Goodwitch looked at it in mild interest before realizing that Jaune was the student that Ozpin had let in out of interest. She sighed to herself, knowing that Ozpin had purposefully given him a uniform that was a few sizes too small. She knew that he was a special case and giving him a custom made uniform to fit him would take too much time. And with the power that he demonstrated at Initiation, they would be going through quite a few of them. So with that in mind, she had decided along with the rest of the staff that he would be allowed to wear his combat gear for his uniform. Ozpin said that he had no idea that the young man hadn't gotten the message. She saw right through that and tried to send one to him from her own Scroll, but found that the only person that could send him one was Ozpin. By the time she realized this though, she had already started class. She would have to talk to the Headmaster again.

"Mister Arc, were you not informed that you were allowed to wear your normal combat gear as your uniform?" She asked, making the Arc look at her blankly. He then looked down at his uniform, a small smile growing.

"You mean I don't have to wear this then?" Jaune asked one final time. Goodwitch nodded to him, confirming his wants.

"That is correct, yes. Now will you go down to the locker room and change into your combat attire? Then you may begin your spar against Mister Win-" Goodwitch tried to say before Jaune had suddenly...Ripped off his uniform!?

"I CAN BREATHE!" Jaune exclaimed as he shredded the upper portion of his uniform, showing his upper body in it's entirety. The rest of he class looked on in surprise and shock. Did he really just do that?

"Finally! God! Now to change into my _actual_ clothes." Jaune stated, walking to the locker rooms to get ready for his sparring match. As he looked over, he saw that Cardin was coming out of the locker room. If that was his match, then he wouldn't have to get his sword. His shield would be enough.

The rest of the class were too shocked by what happened that they hadn't said anything until he had left. The first to say anything was Pyrrha, who of course, had to ruin the moment...again.

"I never noticed that he had such a nice behind." She said almost blankly. Nora looked to her with squinted eyes. At this rate, Either she was going to have to tell this girl that Jaune didn't like her, or ask Jaune to do it. This was getting out of hand. She turned to her other teammate and saw that she still had a glassy eyes expression, a dark blush adorning her features. What was she dreaming about?

When Jaune had reemerged from changing into his GI, he only walked out his his Shield in hand. The opponent across from him scoffed, really looking forward to seeing this bastard crumble to the ground. Goodwitch had looked at the tall blonde with a un-amused glare on her features.

"Mister Arc, I am going to assume that you had _accidentally_ tore your uniform apart and give you your one and **only** warning." She stated firmly. Jaune nodded, looking to Cardin. Though, it was then that Goodwitch realized Jaune didn't have the sword he used during Initiation.

"Arc, do you not intend on using your sword for this practice?" She asked curiously. Jaune shrugged before flipping a switch on the inside of his shield, making the large defensive tool split down the middle before he took both halves in each hand, effectively giving him two lengthy blunt weapons.

"No, I've been meaning to practice some more with these for a while. Thought I'd be able to shave off some rust." Jaune stated, crouching and bringing his arms up to his face, using his weapons to defend himself from anything that Cardin might try to throw at him. Goodwitch looked at him for a moment before shaking her head and getting her tablet ready for the match. She found it peculiar however, that Jaune's Aura readings seemed to be a bit...strange. Something was showing in the bar, but it seemed to be...different? It was probably a small digital error. His strange power was most likely the cause. But for now, she had to start the match.

"If both fighters are ready, we will start the match shortly." She stated, looking to both of them for confirmation. Jaune nodded while Cardin just scoffed.

"Just get this on already so I can pummel this idiot." Cardin said, keeping a relaxed posture and bringing his mace up for battle. Goodwitch gave him a small glare before she started the countdown.

"You may start on the count of three." She started, getting their Aura readings onto the large screen. Jaune's expression hardened, taking this match as seriously as any other. One does not make it far in life by being cocky.

"One."

Cardin smirked at him, getting into a joke of a stance.

"Two."

Jaune's team looked on with interest, already knowing that Jaune would win, but were curious about his fighting style.

"Three. Start." Goodwitch said simply, signalling the two fighters to begin the match. Cardin immediately charged forward while Jaune slowly approached.

"You're mincemeat Arc!" Cardin exclaimed, winding up his heavy overhead attack. Jaune only reacted when the attack had reached halfway through it's swing. It was then that he brought up his left arm, using his weapon to get into the small opening at the head of the mace. After that, he twisted his arm, locking the two weapons in place before quickly swinging to the right, ripping the mace from Cardin's hands. The brute himself widened his eyes before Jaune went in for the kill. He thrust with his right hand, driving the point of his weapon into the chest piece of Cardin's armor. It was enough to drive the man back, making him stumble. It was just one more step before Jaune was done.

Jaune stepped forward, stepping just next to Cardin before swinging to his left and hitting Cardin in the back, stopping his momentum and discombobulating him with the sudden shift in motion. When he turned to face his opponent, Jaune was already in the middle of swinging again. This time, at his face. And he didn't plan to stop.

Jaune's shield half struck Cardin across the face, making the Winchester shift with the strike before Jaune struck him again on the opposite side, causing Cardin to shift in the other direction. Jaune upped his intensity and started really beating into him.

After about a dozen hits, Jaune stopped and quickly jumped up to knee him in the face, sending him flying.

 **K.O!**

 **PERFECT!**

"The match is over, Mister Arc is the winner." Goodwitch concluded, announcing that Jaune had won. Though, she couldn't understand why the computer had an announcer, or why it would announce a victory like that. The perfect part was new though...

"Good match." Jaune said, bringing his two shield halves together and making it whole. Cardin groaned from his place on the floor, otherwise being unresponsive. Jaune relaxed his muscles before he stood there and waited for the professor's verdict. It was always nice to have an outside view on things after all.

"Mister Arc...no major points to get across, though, I should remind you that this was merely a practice match and not a real fight. Other than that, you were exceptional. Dismissed." She said, letting Jaune walk back to the locker and put away his shield. She turned to Cardin and saw that he was in no condition to receive an evaluation. So she turned to his team.

"Team CRDL, would you take Mister Winchester to the nurse's office and tell him that his evaluation will be sent via his Scroll." She said, making the rest of the team nod their heads and head down to the arena and follow their orders.

As Jaune made it back to his team, he sat down with a comfortable sigh. He was finally in his natural attire and not in those uncomfortable and strangling shreds of rag that they passed as a uniform. He looked to his side and saw that Nora and Ruby were smiling brightly at him. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"What?" He asked, not knowing why they were looking at him like that. Nora just jumped in place while Ruby giggled a small bit before Nora answered him.

"That was awesome! You completely destroyed that guy!" Nora exclaimed, praising Jaune on his victory. Jaune let out a small laugh, still trying to get used to having people around him and being friends with them. It was nice though, something that he kind of regrets not being able to have until now. He didn't really know how to respond, but just shrugged the compliment off.

"Eh, you know, I just...do what I can. You know?" Jaune said, trying to play it off. He wasn't the best at receiving compliments. He was sure that he would get better at dealing with other people as time went on, but now was not that time. Ruby's praise was simple enough, just a simple hand on his shoulder and a smile. He appreciated it. His neighboring team didn't really say anything to him, but Blake was still being a bit creepy by keeping an eye on him. At this rate, he was going to have to confront her about it. And speaking of problems...

"Jaune~. I didn't know how you were so adept at fighting in different styles. What other _big_ secrets are you hiding?" Pyrrha said, trying to put a hand on his pant leg. But thankfully, Nora had had about enough of Pyrrha's antics and decided to help her Fearless Leader by grabbing the redhead's attention.

"Oh, look Pyrrha, the next match is starting! That guy is using a weapon like yours! You might be able to pick up a few tricks from him." Nora said, coming in for the save. Jaune gave her an appreciative nod and mouth a quick thank you. She nodded to her as Pyrrha looked at the combatants with a blank stare. From what she's seen, neither of those two in the ring were remotely close to her skill, let alone Jaune's. Speaking of which, she needed to get back to claiming him as her own.

"I don't think that they are much to note, but Jaune, I think you were really great out there. What say you and I go out onto the rooftop and go through some...Sparring-" Pyrrha tried to offer, but Jaune knew _exactly_ where she was trying to take that and thought to make an emergency exit with the fact that his Scroll went off. What perfect timing!

"Oh, sorry Pyrrha, I think I just got a message. And wouldn't you know it? It's from the Headmaster. I gotta go." Jaune said, getting up and looking at the message itself. He paused at it, noting that it also requested for Ruby to tag along as well. Whatever, he just needed out.

"Ruby, It says that you should come along as well." Jaune said, causing the small reaper to tilt her head in confusion. Was this about her attendance to this school two years earlier?

Before the two of them could walk anywhere too far, Miss Goodwitch had cleared her throat, garnering everyone's attention.

"Mister Arc, Miss Rose, where are you two going? Class has not been dismissed yet." She asked, demanding an answer. Jaune stood up strait, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"Miss Goodwitch, the Headmaster has requested for my partner and I to report to his office immediately." Jaune explained, making the professor nod her head in understanding. But the woman herself was suspicious of what that old man wanted from those two. She really needed to talk to him soon.

"I see. Well, make your leave then. You are excused." She said, letting them out of class to see what the Headmaster wanted. Jaune turned to Nora, seeing that she was giving him a questioning stare. He just gave her a shrug that said 'Your guess is as good as mine'. After that, he walked out of the class with Ruby in tow.

* * *

"So...any Idea why the Headmaster wanted to bring us to his office?" Ruby asked, walking next to her partner. Jaune looked down to her and thought about it for a moment before just shaking his head. As smart as he is, he is no mind reader. Though, if he had to guess, it was probably about their night in the forest.

"I'm pretty sure it's about why we were gone for the night. But I'm not entirely sure. That man is confusing to me to say the least." Jaune stated, making Ruby nod her head in understanding. Though, thinking about last night and how good she slept and that wonderful dream she had where she and Jaune had flew into the horizon before she woke up back in her bed. She figured that he put her there when he was done.

"Would that really warrant a visit to his office though? I think that he might know about...you know...the _thing_ you gave me." She whispered, making Jaune look at her in mild interest. Could that be it? Maybe. If he had any cameras when he first gave Ruby her KI, then he could understand that he would want to know what had happened. Either way, Jaune knew that he would have to explain his power to the older man one way or another.

"That's probably it. And If it is, then I'll explain it to him. I think I probably owe it to him for letting me in without question. Besides, It's not like he can change what's already done." Jaune said, making Ruby agree with him.

"Now, let's go meet with the Headmaster."

* * *

 **Hey there everyone, I see you are reading my end of the chapter Author's Notes! Points to you for actually doing that. Not many people read these things. But anyways, This has been another chapter of The Warriors Road. I think that I will probably update The Man That Will Be King. I don't know, what do you guys think? If not, I can just start working on the next chapter of The Fall From Grace. Another note, I am currently working on a couple of One-shots. So look forward to seeing those before the year is up. With that out of the way, I will see you all in the next chapter of whatever I update. Toodles~!**


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